Title Goes Here

Gainesville

Just finished the Vinge book, and I'm mentally exhausted. Have to get up early tomorrow, so no proper blog tonight. Will get something posted tomorrow.

Burger/Mac Block (R)

Gainesville

It may be all my fault Mom, but I'm not sorry. At least it got you thinking about cooking again. Here was the forumla I came up with:

Start water, cook macaroni. Brown 1-1/4# ground beef (what I happened to have on hand). While that's going on, chop up an onion and half a green pepper. Add that, along with a clove of garlic (minced or crushed). When meat is brown and onions start to look a bit cooked, add a 15-oz can of diced tomatoes (mine had green chiles in them) and an 8-oz can of tomato sauce. Let this simmer until pasta is done. Drain pasta, then put it back in big pot, pour the ground beef stuff over, mix around, then squeeze it into a casserole dish (I had a bit left over). Top with shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Obviously, many variations are possible, but this one was wonderful, and I loved it all over again for lunch today. I'm sure yours will be better tomorrow, and I too am thinking about freezing the leftovers in single serving sizes.

I realized today that the RSS feed is built into blogspot blogs, so now I have LotsaFlies on my Bloglines page. I highly recommend this way to keep track of web sites that change frequently, but with the caveat that it will suck up even more of your time than the web already does, and will follow you wherever you go. Beware!

I shopped. (Local Publix)

I chopped. (Made fruit salad and Mexican Cole Slaw, as requested. It is so miserably hot I could not imagine actually cooking, so we had sushi and shrimp ring. No complaints.)

I read. (Rainbows End. About 2/3 through. Not a page-turner like the Varley was, especially since you have to stop and think about the implications of the technological innovations he presents, but still compelling)

And I wonder how many blogs will be featuring this particular comic tonight (as always, click to enlarge):

Basics

Gainesville

Today began the next to last dress rehearsal for the Real Thing: a week off. Only one more week off to practice being free before I actually have to ... do it. How weird is this?

I Blessed the house: floors, carpets, dust, sheets, towels. Did a few loads of wash, waiting for the last, the towels, to finish so I can fold and put them away.

I continued experimenting with meals. My current hypothesis is: breakfast is evil. Just wait for lunch.

I guess the basic hamburger/macaroni casserole is programmed somewhere deep within the genes. I knew what to do, but felt it necessary to check online. I was dead right. And it was amazingly wonderful. Bill was very happy with it, and there is a ton leftover. Had some frozen mixed veg miked at last minute with it. Nice to know what I'll have for lunch the next few days. This is comfort food at a very basic level.

Some football on the tube tonight as I continue reading Rainbows End. Alas, it got electric-stormed out.

And speaking of weather... the E-storm. Sigh! Looks like it wants to scrape the east coast of Florida in the pre-hurricane stage. We should be okay if that plays out, but you never know. We still have most of our hurricane supplies from last year at the ready. And this year, we have a cute little generator parked in the garage, which we call Moonbeam.

I enjoyed tonight's Saalfelden entry, Mom. But I have to wonder, why in the world did you want to cook on a Farber grill in the middle of rural Europe, with all electrical conversion problems?! I guess you had a sort of "camping out" mentality, where you wanted to be in the land of Heidi, but have the 20th century conveniences of home too? If it had been me, I think I'd have settled for a hibachi or something when I craved grilled stuff.

I hope you do give some thought and effort toward meals beyond frozen chicken pies. You deserve better than this, and all it takes is a little planning.

I have some retirement decisions to make in the next week or two. It all boils down to the question of what do I need to be happy. And in my head I keep hearing some old 40's songs: the sun in the morning and the moon at night... the flowers of spring, the robins that sing...to which I would add: Time to call my own. Love. Books. I think I'll be okay.

August and Everything After

Gainesville

Good thing I have this week off. Need to get recalibrated, plus a few errands, eg, when I went shopping yesterday, the rear view mirror came off in my hand. This is at least the third time this has happened. Well, in all honestly, I have to say the third time in 14 years. Doesn't sound so bad, does it. Still, a trip to the Ford dealership to get it glued back on will take half a day, minimum.

Got the sheets changed. They aren't laundered yet, as Bill staged a laundry marathon, still not done. First thing tomorrow for that.

I started reading Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (and recognized that I'd already ready Chapter 4 somewhere... an IEEE publication of all places!) and continued with more of Strange/Norrell. This latter is taking longer, since it is 800 pages long and has linguistic nuances from the 19th century that require slow reading to appreciate. Varley and Vinge require only an open mind to where present technology will be Real Soon Now, plus, they are only 350 pages long.

Made a beef curry thing I'd been putting off for a few weeks (the cubed beef in the freezer). It wasn't bad, but nothing I'd bother to do again. I asked Bill what he would like this week. His first choice was a cassarole (!) using Dreamfield pasta. Okay, I can do that. Then he mentioned the sides I often do: 4-bean salad, Mexican slaw, fruit salad-- things I've done so many times I've grown bored with them and rotated out. Who knew he loved them?

Mom, don't worry about having to write something interesting, or transcribe something from the past. I mean, look at this day of mine? The seemlingly trivial details are what become most interesting later. Let's both just keep posting, even when it seems like nothing is happening, and nobody is reading. At least we'll know where we were and what we were thinking about in late August 2006.

I think you need to get into weekly menu planning. Do it on a morning when food sounds good, but for the whole week. Then, with the plan made, just DO it, whether you're hungry or not. I think you'll surprise yourself with how much you enjoy eating simple food you've made yourself.

"Bark Bark," said the Dog Day

Gainesville

Just finished the book. Whoa. Unlike many great reads, this one did not wimp out at the end and just play out the foregone conclusion, or just end with an unexpected twist. It played out the unexpected twist beautifully. It was a great read.

I made it out to shop, although I'll need to go out again this week. Bill reminded me he needed to eat early tonight, as in 5:00! in order to attend an international online Event. This somewhat limits food options. Had a prefab pork florentine (Publix makes these up with fresh mozzerella and spinach in an oven-ready pan), the rest of the faux-rice I shredded Wednesday, and a very nice spinach salad with grape tomatoes, mandarin orange slices, cashews and sliced scallions. This unlikely combo was complemented by a Roasted Asian Sesame dressing, and it was perfect. Must remember this one, as we both loved it.

Got an overdue load of whites washed tonight, after pushing along a load of Bill's dark shirts, which unfortunately included a kleenex, shredded and somewhat the worse for wear.

What an exciting day, huh?

How nice to hear you figured out imortant clues for working the Apple IIe, Mom, way back then. Truly ahead of your time. And I envy you your practically perfect weather-- it is still hottern' hooties here, a bit of thunder tonight but no rain to speak of all day. With any luck, our infamous Dog Days are coming to an end soon. Knock knock.

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Oops! Forgot to push the Publish button last night. Sorry.

All-Dayer

Gainesville

One shelf at a time sounds like the perfect Baby Step to me, Mom, especially when combined with getting the kitchen in order and a successful adventure with your BBQ-PITT.

I have no such accomplishments. Enough that I got out of bed at a decent hour, went out shopping, and got most of the errands done. Alas, I stumbled across a book I didn't know existed, and have been reading it ever since: Mammoth, by John Varley, one of my favorite authors. Only half way through it at this writing, and were I younger, I'd be looking at an all-nighter. As it is, it will be an All-Dayer* tomorrow. Hope I can find time to plan meals and shop. If not... who cares? I have an All-Weeker to rectify the situation.

Yeah. This is going to be a big problem PR, when the crushing cage of the work week is not there to impose some sort of order and deadline. When Monday and Friday don't carry the freight of meaning they do now. How will that work?

Lotsa rain today, made for exciting driving. Giant mushrooms are sprouting in the back yard, a sure sign that things are back to normal, precip-wise. At least for now.

And my goal for right now is to get to bed before I remember how much I want to find out what happens next in that book...
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*Thanks to the wonderful Get Fuzzy for this glorious phrase!

Airport Shuffle

Gainesville

What a long and stress-filled day. Bill had told Barbara that we would help ferry her and John's stuff to the airport in Blue-- they're off for a three week cruise of the North Sea-- Dover to St. Petersburg. Bill then realized he had meetings this morning that he couldn't get out of-- so that left me with the chore alone. I managed to get the Garmin GPS set up to find their place, got their luggage loaded (between her wheelchair and all the other stuff, it totally filled Blue's bed) and to the airport on time. John rode with me, so I got a rare chance to chat with him. He's an astronomer and all-around neat guy.

Since it was just me there, they left their car in long term parking, but gave me the combination lock so Bill and I could go pick up their car and drive it back to their house. After some confusion about how to get there, we got that accomplished after work tonight. We went from there to Outback and the Thursday night outting, both happy for the chance to unwind. Bill's day was complicated by someone being injured in the new building's compact shelving. This is not supposed to be possible!

Many phone calls today-- a true anti-procrastination day. A couple of good thunderstorms too. Nothing as exciting as what you got up there, though!

I'm now waiting for the towels to finish drying so I can fold and put them away. And then to bed. Looking forward to tomorrow off. Plus all next week. Plus Labor Day. Only about three more weeks of actual work left. The end is in sight.

Non

Gainesville

Sorry to bug out, but I have the worst headache ever, a combo of every headache of my life. Sinus, migraine with visual twinkles, TMJ, you name it. Chopping off my own head sounds like a reasonable solution at the moment.

Meanwhile, blog on, Mom, and any other dormant flies out there...

Put Me on the Blogline

Gainesville

Missed a meeting this morning because Bill forgot we needed to leave early for it. Didn't really matter, as these things are just pro forma now. It was the first one conducted by Martha's interim replacement, my erstwhile boss. She is a nice person and has had the office cube next to mine the past few years, so I know her pretty well-- but there's really little point in trying to establish a boss/employee relationship with her at this late date.

Did make it to my 11:00, a session on RSS feeds. I really should work on putting one on this blog. They're pretty simple to do. The most interesting thing to me, though, was Bloglines, Google's browser-based RSS reader. I established one, then spent the rest of the day reading through all the stuff I'd subscribed to. Between that and keeping up with comics and email, that could shoot the whole day, every day. I wonder if the net really makes us more productive, or just overloads us with information.

Today was the official ribbon-cutting for the new building (and reception for faculty). I'd planned to go, but ended up opting for lunch instead. (The reception served cookies and lemonade.) Picked up a wrap-thing at the Little Hall round house on my way back from MSL where the RSS session was held. Best part of it was the little side of potato salad that came with it. I DO miss potato salad!

We got home just before 7:00. Didn't do anything toward dinner last night, but DID this morning-- spent a good 15 minutes sawing the frozen pork tenderloin in half with the scariest looking knife you've ever seen-- looks like it belongs on a chainsaw! Refroze half, put the other half in the fridge. It was perfect for slicing when we got home-- still frozen enough to be easy to slice into medallions. A wine, creame and caper sauce over them was very nice. I did Leanne's suggested side of a relish tray (cuke spears, radishes, grape tomatoes, celery sticks and baby carrots) with a veggie ranch dip, plus leftovers of last night's asparagus. Had this on the table by 8:00.

Forty days and less than an hour until R-Day. I need to get to work on stuff that has to happen before then.

Shoot. Just realized I forgot to put the magic olive in my see-through. Must remedy that at once! [pause while olive and see-through 2 is poured] Ah-- much better.

My clothes are laid out for tomorrow. I've thought about what to have for dinner, and have taken the chuck steak out of the freezer so it will be ready to put into the crockpot in the morning for a taco meat recipe. These will be tortilla-less tacos of course. Maybe I'll have mine on top of tortilla chips. The kitchen looks as if no cooking happened at all. (Yesss!)

I do love the FL water bottle, and will probably by a second one for work. The straw is a large one, so very easy to drink from. It's the perfect solution for the bedside water-- won't spill, break, or attract bugs. And great while cooking, as you can drink without having to put your messy hands on it. Mom, you should try it. You might overcome your straw = coke stereotype and find it easier to drink more water.

I'm also considering getting the FL dishtowels, something to remind me of my resolve to change those every day. At present I just change them twice a week when I do the rest of the towels, but it would be good to have them clean every day. Another thing to shoot for PR.

Bill is getting all kinds of sympathy at work for how he will cope with my retirement: how will he ever keep from killing me from pure envy that I don't have to go to work, but still get paid? I will have to tread very lightly for awhile and not rub it in! At the Systems staff meeting yesterday they asked if they could call me if they had problems I could solve. I said sure, as long as it's after noon! I imagne the sleeping til noon will get old after awhile, but I intend to test that theory rather rigorously. Look forward to my research project on the topic, coming Real Soon Now.

Diversions

Gainesville

Sitting in front of my actual PC tonight-- the horde of angry hornets inside it had subsided to one somewhat annoyed one by last night, and today, none at all. I will never turn it off again! The other factor is, it's so warm inside that having the laptop on my lap is pure torture. Advances from the cat are meeting a cold shoulder. Or rather an overheated shoulder.

I've been sneezy and sniffly all day. Never left the Tank until quiting time, and we didn't get home til after 7:00. This scuttled the planned meal, and I had no Plan B. This forced a deep backup meal, Dogs & Kraut. Which turned out great, and was ready in about 20 minutes, including freshly steamed asparagus and a salad.

If I had any sense at all, I'd make myself go back into that nice clean kitchen and saw the frozen pork tenderloin in half, then refreeze half and leave the other half in the fridge overnight. In the morning, when it's still partially frozen, I could cut it into slices, and be able to fix the planned meal tomorrow even if we get home after 7:00 again. Do I have any sense? That very much remains to be seen...

Does anyone here read Mary Worth? Those of us addicted to the Comics Curmudgeon site are all agog about Mary and her stalker. It's suddenly become the most exciting strip out there, much to everyone's surprise. Meanwhile, what's probably my favorite single Sunday strip of all time appeared yesterday: Lio. I'd post the whole thing here if I could figure out how to extract it from the link. It takes about 5 minutes to read, and I laughed the whole time. What wonderful stuff!

Yes. I know. I need help.

Better than usual day at work: I got a trouble ticket that no one else could figure out, it was close enough that I could stroll to the other end of the large room and check it out, and I was able to fix it. I wrote it up properly, so someone else can fix it next time it comes up. Also, managed to make it to a Systems Department meeting for the first time in ages. Those are all such good people. I'll miss them.

More preseason football tonight. It was on ESPN, so that unfortunately alerted me to the Yankees/BoSox "Boston Massacre, Pt. 2." Bleahhh.

Good for you, jumping in where you are once again, Mom. It is surprising how that shiny sink meme works its way into the subconscious, so that when it isn't there, you know things aren't right. And you know exactly how to fix it, and it doesn't take that long at all. Let's hear it for FlyWashing!

Speaking of which, towels just dinged, so I folded and put them away. Changing them on Monday has been deeply programmed, and Tuesday mornings are the better for it. And I like the idea of the penny release. Except, they should count them in terms of pounds instead of cents. We have tons of them. If we were to release them all at once, they'd have to send an armored truck to haul them away.

And by the way, Mom, no apologies for spending time on the NYT Monday puzzle. That should be something you give yourself a star for-- brain exercise! That's my excuse for Sudoku, anyway...

Clogged Pipes

Gainesville

Rerun of last night's setting: laptop, watching preseason football.

Despite sleeping late, I got a lot done today: decluttered another shelf of stuff in the kitchen, tossing about 2/3 of it. Or rather, packed for tossing: since we missed trash pickup last Monday, there is no room in the can. Will do the actual toss tomorrow. If I'm energetic enough, will open cans and bottles to recycle, but the important thing is to get rid of it.

Also changed and laundered sheets, dusted, sorted through my coffee table stack (not too bad, but better now), and unplugged both sinks in my bathroom. Good Suze.

Made chicken fajitas wrapped in Romaine leaves. It's so nice that you can now buy these already separated, washed, and ready to go. Was going to make an interesting salad with strawberry slices, but alas, the strawberries I bought just yesterday were unsalvageable-- I wasted way too much time trying to trim off the bad spots, only to realize it was mostly bad spots. They were from Watsonville-- what did I expect? The experiment using the egg slicer on them was successful, though. Instead of the salad, I served the leftover slaw and string beans from last night.

Tonight the kitchen looks like it oughta: drainboards clear and clean, sink shining, floor swept. Stuff for three meals in the freezer and fridge. Back to the tank tomorrow. I at least had one day in there last week. It's going to be a major cold-shower shock for Bill. Seven days is the longest vacation he's had in over a year.

That reminds me: I've got all my evening routines done except for laying out the clothes. It's supposed to rain all week, Bill sez, so think I'll go with dark colored slacks (so as to not show mud splatters so much). Well, at this point, I need something to focus on to decide what to wear. All the political/social reasons have vanished. I can see I'll need to rethink my wardrobe in a big way come October. I could easily fill Blue's bed several times over with stuff that must go.

I'm very envious of your deck, fountain, bird stuff and plants, Mom. I wish you'd take some pictures. I have as one of the first things I want to do in October making the patio a pleasant place to be and look at again.

Glad to hear you had a success with that... large thing that you and Sandy broke the first time. (Can somebody give me a URL?) . I'll bet I have that 1984 birthday letter of yours somewhere amid my souvenirs. The question, of course, is WHERE.

Classes start Wednesday. Oh Joy. The grade school kids went back last week. The streets and stores are choked with hordes of confused, anxious newcomers and rude, impatient returnees. A good time to lay low and wait til things sort them out, and the confused, anxious and rude parents of the newbies go home.

August and Then Some

Gainesville

Just finished our third thunderstorm (complete with heavy rain) of the day-- typical August regime and then some. The first came as I was leaving Publix with a full shopping cart. The rain had not started yet, but angry black clouds were right over us, and the lightning strikes were frighteningly close-- the last place you want to be is an open parking lot with a heavy metal shopping basket: death on wheels! I made record time loading the stuff into Blue, you betcha. And, obviously, lived to tell the tale.

Writing this on my lap in the TV room, having watched my first football of the season-- a pre-season matchup for Jax with the Panthers. Jags did not look good, but hey, great to see the old pigskin being tossed around again.

Made a fish dish that involved a chili-cilantro cole slaw. The slaw and the fish marinade (same stuff in both) were wonderful, but the fish itself (mahi) left something to be desired. Next time I'll try it with grouper. Turned out to be more labor-intensive than expected: the package of haricots verts I bought turned out to have a tear in the bottom. They were a little the worse for wear, but mostly they needed to be rinsed and the stem end of each and every bean to be re-trimmed. This is not something you want to be doing in the final stages of getting all parts of a meal to come out simultaneously.

I was still packaging stuff for the freezer and slicing up celery and zucch for Bill's dipping pleasure after dinner, so the stuff I usually have done in the kitchen by now is still undone. This may be one of those rare nights when I don't leave the kitchen counters pristine. There's nothing awful, and the sink is empty, but there is at least 20 minutes worth of stuff to do in there, and I'm not sure I have 20 minutes worth of gas in the tank. And I still need to take a shower.

Finished Love & Rockets X, and Hatfield's commentary on it. There is still a lot of reading to get a real handle on L&R, but at least I think I know the lay of the land now. And a very complex land it is.

Thanks for letting Thea know where I'd been, Mom! We were reduced to playing a gussing game of "Is it north of Florida?" "Yes." "Atlanta?" "Further north." "Washington, D.C.?" "West from there." Etc. Alas, I never could get "West Virginia" through to her.

Laptop or Else

Gainesville

You deserve a holiday from blogging, Mom. You've been the loyal poster for a long time. I usually take Thursdays off, as you may have noticed. There is no law that says you have to blog every day, so take a day off whenever you need to.

I did indeed devote most of yesterday reading Poison River, and finished it up today. After reading what Hatfield had to say about it (a big help figuring out what exactly was going on-- a very convoluted and confusing comic/graphic novel) I realized I needed to read Love & Rockets X, which Beto wrote simultaneously. About halfway though that one. Can't imagine how he kept both these complicated stories going at the same time: they were originally put out as single issue comic books.

Good to meet up with Mel at Outback last night after about a month. And to have some good seafood after a week in the mountains. We had lunch out yesterday too-- Bill wanted to see what all the local advertising of Moe's burritos was all about. They were indeed good, and I had the rest of mine for lunch today.

Did the normal towel thing yesterday, the Blessings today. Finally got up the courage to deal with my shedding feather duster: I washed it with baby shampoo, then blow-dried it. We will see if this kills whatever has been feasting on it lately. FL is right, it poofs right up again, as if by magic.

Two thunderstorms today, one around 4:00 the other 8:00-ish. Must be August. This month marks the 42nd anniversary of my original arrival in Gainesville. Good god.

My computer still sounds like a nest of disturbed hornets out for revenge. This is posted from my laptop, a more challenging interface. I'd better learn how to use it, or else. Period.

BZZZZZZZZ...

Gainesville

My computer is still in buzzsaw mode, so this will be brief. Had to shut it down last night so we could sleep in the next room. This is going to put a damper on working at home tomorrow. Will probably put most of the time into comics-related reading-- maybe I can get through Poison River.

Back to work. Bummer. But it wasn't too bad, since I got to drive myself when I was ready to leave (a little after 9:00) and leave when I was ready to go (around 5:30). I drove Moonbeam, which was fun. A little adventure on the way home, though when I accidentally turned on the seat heating-- kept wondering why the AC wasn't working so well!

It's term break here, so quiet on campus. I spent all day moving my stuff off the library's file server, which is desperate for space, and onto CD's -- filled up 9 of them, freeing up over 6 gigabytes of space. It had to be done eventually anyway. There are many duplicates in there, but I just copied everything and will de-dupe later. Yeah right. Good to have that particular job out of the way, though.

Made a strange but good meatloaf for dinner, and had parsley-steamed zucchini and salad as sides. Sliced one of the zucch's into sticks for Bill, as well as some more celery sticks. He's snacking on these with store-bought dips. I will be looking for good dip recipes come Oct 1.

Carrot's blood work came back and it looks fine. Her heart murmur is sub-clinical, as is her hyper-thyroid tendency. I know more about her health than I do my own!

I'm really enjoying Strange/Norell, the book I took on the trip, though I'm less than half way through it. Great fun. Reminds me a little of The Sot-Weed Factor, only with fantasy elements woven into the history instead of farce.

What a nice day you had, Mom. And I'm glad you found some organ shoes.

I need to mail you the clippings about the new library-- Bill saved me out a set, and they are sitting here waiting for me to deal with them. I'll put that on my list of things to do Friday. Along with writing some more about the trip. Certainly not going to happen tonight here in the wasp nest. Wish I had those noise-cancelling headphones here-- they're at work.

Splendid Sundays

Gainesville

Made a serious error in downing my computer when we left town. When I turned it back on, the loud noise was back, worse than ever. We know it can't be the disk drive dying, because we replaced that recently, so it has to be a fan either on the motherboard or the power supply. Latter is simple to replace, former, not so much. At any rate, it is so loud and irritating I can't stand to be in there, so am typing this on my laptop in the living room, my see-through at my side, my cat curled up in her tube, my man in the next room, WoW-ing. Things almost back to normal

Poor Carrot had another trauma today-- a visit to the vet for shots and a checkup. She has gotten quite thin, and we want to be sure nothing is seriously wrong. Won't know for sure til blood work is back, but they think she seems fine. As always, she bore the various indignities with stoic patience. Such a good kitty.

I did a couple loads of wash, then tackled my vegetable storage cart. I knew the last of Sandy's onions had gone south, but not THAT far (Brazil, maybe?)-- very bad news, and a long business to empty and clean the whole thing, tossing old tomatoes, apples, oranges, etc. The biggest surprise was that a fairly recent shallot was nothing but a shell hosting a bunch of tiny little worms-- yeachh! Once I'd done that, I decided it would be a good idea to start around the wall next to it and start tossing. I did the top of the low shelves and the little shelves above them. The change was dramatic enough that Bill actually noticed. If I can just do a 15 minute stint each day for awhile, I might regain control of my pantry. I'd been putting it off thinking I needed to start in the closet part, but probably better to start with what I can see.

Happy event this afternoon-- the FedEx truck dropped off my retirement present to myself. I'd ordered it about 10 days ago, forgetting that we'd probably be gone when it arrived, and was afraid it might get left out in the elements and be ruined, or stolen. It's something of a comics Grail: the ultimate Little Nemo collection, So Many Splendid Sundays -- printed in dazzling color at full size of the originals! I unpacked it to be sure it was intact, but have left the final shrink wrap on it. Going to save it until I am actually retired. Also, until I've cleared a proper spot for it-- as Bill put it, "It's not a coffee table book-- it's a coffee table without legs!" Sandy, remember the Little Nemo poster in my office? It's that size-- and another (different) poster came with the book. Happy happy joy joy!

I fixed a nice Leanne concoction of chicken and artichoke hearts topped with Feta, which we had over low-carb pasta. I swear, I think I like that stuff better than the real thing. I hope they don't discover it's toxic. Made a simple cole slaw as a side, and a plate of small chicken bits cooked separately for Carrot.

For the record, a little self-satisfied pat on the back-- a new Sudoku milestone. I did an online easy one today without using the annotation feature at all-- just kept it in my head. I'm amazed I could do this. There is hope I can someday do them on paper.

Thanks for the info on Shout Color Catchers, Mom (and Kay). That might help me consolidate some small color-segretated loads of tops and shirts that I hang up instead of folding. Sounds promising.

Practicing one piece over and over was always my favorite method of learning. I"m glad you're enjoying the organ again. And huzzah for Charlie, fixing that pesky blind-- whatta guy!

I have a couple of set pieces in mind about the trip: Glade Springs; Beckley The Boomtown; The Amazing Jewel; Moonbeam as a Travel Companion; and the Gates' Present and Future Abodes. I'm listing them here so I don't forget.

Because they're sure not going to get done tonight. Back to work tomorrow. In 47 days, 0 hours, 16 minutes and 42 seconds, that silliness will be at an end.

Home Again

Gainesville

We're back. Arrived home just about 4:00, having picked up Carrot at Cat's PJ's on the way in. We left Beckley yesterday around 1:00, after spending an hour or two with the Gates' at the lake. Several of the rest of the clan dropped by, including Ellen, Leslie's daughter, who just HAD to see me because she appreciated my little nothing notes on Christmas cards so much.

OF COURSE the weather was picture perfect Sunday morning as we were leaving. It was nice to be able to see the lake and the mountain scenery in full sunlight, even briefly. We'd made the last part of the trip up in the dark, so I got to see what I'd missed before. Not much traffic, no rain at all, and we breezed through Charlotte without a hitch (traffic northbound was backed up in the same place we'd been stuck going up, though). We stopped around 6:00 in Columbia, SC at a place that advertised free wireless broadband: The Columbia Plaza Hotel, right off I-77. And fast it was-- we were amazed. It was a nice place, in some ways better than the pretentious Glade Springs; it had a fridge and microwave, f'rinstance. We will stay there again next time we make the trip.

Much better to take two easy days than one long hard one. I have everything unpacked and put away, changed the towels and am waiting for the dirty ones to finish in the dryer.

Bill was not interested in food tonight after a Wendy's extravaganza somewhere on the road. He is taking the rest of the week off as vacation. I will take tomorrow off, go in Wednesday, work at home Thursday and take Friday off. Crazy schedule.

Have much more to say about the trip, but a bit too tired to do it tonight. Thanks for soldiering on with the blog while I was gone, Mom. Too bad about the shades breaking down. I wonder if the heat affected them. Good for you, getting back to Nordic, and some organ too.

What is a "Shout Color Catcher"? I'm behind on email on all accounts, so have not kept current with FL mailings.

Mmmmm... mess of roasting ears sounds mighty good right now... I don't eat much when on the road, so will have some catching up to do tomorrow.

Need to fix the second round of drinks and fold the towels.

Good to be home. More tomorrow.

Soggy Mountains

Glade Springs, WV

Finally, a decent connection (knock knock) and a bit of time. Just a quick update.

Made it in one day, despite being stuck in traffic about an hour in Charlotte. Got here a little after 9:00, after dark. Bill got our room upgraded to one with wireless net, but it has been spotty.

It rained all day yesterday and today until late this afternoon, and quite cool. Of course, I packed almost entirely warm weather resort-type clothes. WRONG! Will wear the one mock t-neck again tomorrow and hope we make it to warmer weather by Monday.

We spent most of yesterday at the Gates mansion (now sold-- Mom, you'd love this huge split level lake-front home (5200 square feet, wet bars on both levels, etc.) and in their new place, a small 2-bedroom duplex in an assisted living facility. It will be quite an adjustment for them, and of course they can only take a fraction of their stuff.

Today we had a wonderful lunch with Jewel, a lovely woman who was Bill's dad's assistant for many years (I'd met her several times before), after which we shopped at Staples to upgrade his mom's computer monitor and printer. Getting these installed at their new place took all afternoon. Very nice dinner tonight at a place called Char's.

We plan to leave tomorrow around noon and take two days driving back, so we can avoid another mess in Charlotte and arrive a little less exhausted.

Will fill in more details when we get back.

Signing Off, For Now

Gainesville

I'm all packed, save for a short list of things to remember to pack at the last minute. Bill has not yet started to pack, yet he wants to leave "early." He has all the maps printed out (although we will mostly rely on Moonbeam's nav system to guide us) and reservations at Glade Springs. He called them today and found out they don't have net access most places-- and their reservation system has been down for days, so they don't know where we'll be staying. This does not bode well for being able to blog or game while there. Dial access is no longer a reasonable option. Maybe we'll find an internet cafe in Daniels. Or Ghent. Yeah, right! Maybe we should look for a Motel 6 room out on the highway and rent it JUST for a few hours of net access!

I did some tossing from the fridge, but not nearly what needed doing. Made the cukes into the classic (at least MY version) Graham summer dish. Braised half the bag of cole slaw mix-- the rest should still be good when we get back. Browned some cube steaks, finished them with blue cheese crumbles and minced red onion. Pretty good meal.

I did a load o' laundry. Sorted a week's worth of mail from the P.O. Box which Bill fetched. Paid all the bills. Loaded three new CD's into my iPod, and got my laptop in shape for travel. Found a bit of time to read some of my travel book (Strange/Norrell, which is wonderful!). Kitchen clean, sink shiny, and all the rest of that FL stuff. Only things I have left to do tonight are take a shower and fold a load of Bill's socks. So Far so good.

It's Lala's birthday today. Don't ask why I remember it, but I always do. It was also the day Nixon resigned, a very long time ago.

Too bad about your power loss today, Mom. How ironic, when you take all the precautions for thunderstorms, and it goes down without notice of no reason at all, seemingly. Good luck with your new gadget adventure tomorrow. I confess, I don't know what this thing is or what it looks like.

As always, enjoy reading of your adventures in Saalfelden. Keep it up, please.

So, tomorrow our little Adventure begins. The plan is to drive straight through. It's a long day, but do-able with an early start and nothing going wrong. Will drop the cat off at her Bed & Breakfast on the way out of town. Wish us all luck!

Qualifying Event

Gainesville

Sorry to hear that Bayfield is a recent victim of climate craziness. An arts fair blown into the lake! Now that's just rude. I hope your place and the two Rittenhouses survived, and haven't fallen victim to the magic eraser that follows me, obliterating locations from my past. This particular past was just five years ago!

Trip to the Cities sounds like fun. And how nice to not have leftovers to carry out, especially when you have plenty of food there already and more on the way. Another kind of clutter I'm learning to recognize. Makes it easier to say to to doggie bags.

More hot hot hot here, and I'd forgotten what a long hot walk it is over to the stadium even fairly early in the morning. And UF's Human Resources offices are in a very old sector which is not well air conditioned. My retirement consultation took a long time, much paperwork to sign, more to take home and study, decide and deal. A complicated business, but they are doing what they can to make it easier. I have a check list, and six weeks or so to get it done. My favorite was the paper that signifies I have a "Qualifying Event" (retirement).

Bill and I met for lunch at the Copper Monkey. Good thing, as he had another of the endless Walk-Throughs that didn't start until 5:00. This meant we didn't get home until 8:00 PM. No cooking was committed this night, but Joe Cool offered up enough leftovers to keep body and soul together (for the humans) and stripes attached (for the cat).

Folded a load of Big Whites while watching the last (oh no!) Battlestar Galactica on my DVD set. I was NOT prepared for it to be a cliff-hanger! Frack! Nor was I prepared for Michelle Forbes (Ensign Ro in ST:NG) to make an appearance. By the end of the ep, I'd hardly folded anything at all, I was so entranced. All done now, though.

Finally rained tonight. It was so incredibly hot and humid as darkness set it that it had no choice but to condense big drops out of nowhere. Thunder seemed and afterthought.

Both of us are off tomorrow, getting ready for departure. The hardest part for me will be dealing will what's in the fridge. Should be a strange meal tomorrow night.

Future Illumination

Gainesville

Okay, no more talk about boring posts. If I only posted when I thought I had something interesting to say, this thing would have fizzled out long ago. What seems ordinary humdrum stuff now will be fascinating in the future-- look at the Saalfelden stuff just 20 years ago, and already it is filled with wonderful little details, like your struggles with the computer-- an Apple II! That is ancient history now, and you should be proud that you were on such bleeding edge technology back then, despite being in a small town in Europe! Just tell us what the day was like, what you're doing, reading, thinking about. It may not be interesting to you, but it is to me, and trust me, it will be pure gold in days to come. Think about how we all got off on Mary's diary.

In short just do it. And no apologies!

End sermon. Now for my BORING day...

Back to work. Nothing much to do. Meeting I was looking forward to was cancelled, so I went down to Systems (they are in temporary exile while the floors are being torn up and recarpeted and other minor repairs) and went around talking to people I missed seeing. Especially nice to talk with Cynthia and tell her how deeply I've become enthralled with Battleship Galactica-- she was the one who raved about it early on, and I took note. She was pleased!

Speaking of which, I watched another BG episode tonight-- one more to go, and then I'm at the mercy of the Sci Fi channel's reruns until Season 2.2 comes out on DVD in Sept., and Season 3 starts broadcasting whenever. Argghh!

Made a Pork Piccata that we all three liked. Sauteed some spinach with garlic and (since the stove was full-up with pans) miked some asparagus spears. All very nice. Kitchen all clean, sink all shiny. Yes, it makes me smile.

Changed and laundered towels. What can I say? It's just what I DO on Mondays (and Thursdays). Another real FL habit. My clothes are laid out for tomorrow. I checked the calendar and know I have a meeting about retirement stuff at 11:00 over at the stadium (UF Personnel has their offices in the Temple of Gator Football).

Hot Hot Hot today. No rain. The jungle still grows apace, though, which is good.

Plans for trip north finalized: reservations made for us up there, and for Carrot at Cat's Pajamas here. We will leave Thursday, return Monday or Tuesday. And today I remembered that we have been out of town at least once this year: Atlanta in April for PCA.

So then: work tomorrow, then off for a week.

Now wasn't that fascinating? Not. Just check back in 20 years, though and everything will be illuminated.

Watch Out for Wagons

Gainesville

Strange sort of whiplash to go between the hot summer you're experiencing now and the 3 feet of snow in Saalfelden, 1986. It's like hearing from two Moms at the same time, unstuck in time by 20 years.

Quiet, routine Sunday, except for having to shop-- three days in a row in Publix, which has to be some kind of record for me. Carved a meal plan out of this week's Leanne. Tonight we had a very nice dish of fish (snapper) quickly browned then baked under a tomato/ onion/ garlic sauce topped with feta. Bill and Carrot approved. Hope the next three meals come out as well.

Also got the sheets changed and laundered. Pretty much on target for the week except for dusting-- need to do something about that ailing feather duster.

Let the record show I actually finished, correctly, an easy Sudoku puzzle on paper. It took a long time, longer than it did to do this week's five-star online. Go figure.

Can't believe that for the third Monday in a row I'm going into work after thinking I had the whole next week off. In a way, it's good-- instead of dreading the work week, I'm looking forward to the week off. Somehow, the disappointment isn't a factor. This is no doubt because I know in not so many weeks this mandatory work drama will be over.

Re: FL's exercise of Lessons Learned-- don't have 66, but here're three of them:

1. Never Surrender Dreams. (JMS)

2. The best things in life aren't THINGS. (unknown)

3. A man will live until he dies, unless he's runned over by a wagon. (one of our great grandparents)

D'oh!

5 Aug 06

Gainesville

Looks like we will not be able to leave for WV til next Thursday. Bill has something unavoidable at work Tuesday. I will probably go into work Monday and Tuesday, then take Monday and Tuesday of the next week off.

I shopped for just today, and easy, prefab stuff. Now that there is a firmer departure date, I'll shop for a normal week tomorrow, making sure there are no leftovers.

Meanwhile, I got five loads of laundry done today (including a bunch of little ones for the nicer, hanging things that I do by color and immediately hang up again) so I'm ready to pack. I have a rough plan of what to take, and will have all day Wednesday to do it. I found the book I want to take, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Morrell by Susanna Clarke, and started reading it to be sure it would be a good trip book. Oh yes-- problem is, keeping myself from reading it straight through right now! It's nearly 800 pages long, so as long as I work a few days next week I'm not likely to finish it. Still, it's the kind of book that could engender all-nighters, so I'd best be careful. Bill read it months ago and loved it.

Watched another Battlestar ep, "Final Cut." Oh my-- they clearly know their audience is familiar with both Star Trek and Babylon 5, and they are playing off those expectations in order to twist your head around at the last. What wonderful stuff! I can't say enough good things about this series. And I know it would still work as great drama even without the sci fi allusions.

Mom, I didn't put any pictures or links in yesterday's post. In Thursday's, the pictures were links to web pages-- one to a PDF file, one to a Gainesville Sun story. Maybe your browser isn't set up with a PDF reader. Was anyone else out there in Blog-land able to see the pictures in the links? Don't worry about it, though-- I'll mail you the newspaper coverage, and will get Bill to print the PDF pages if need be.

Sorry you lost your post. I'll bet it's there somewhere, just saved in an unexpected folder. It happens.

*************
It happens, indeed! I just lost this post, looking up something on Google that froze my session-- and "Recover post" did not work. Oh well, here is the version I'd saved to a Word file before a final edit.

No News

Gainesville

Sometimes no news is good news, and today was one of those times. Bill woke me up with coffee around 7:15, having forgotten I just don't DO Fridays anymore... so I had the wonderful luxury of going back to sleep for another hour. Which was enough, since I'd actually gone to bed around midnight for a change.

I went shopping. One of those rare occasions when I found nothing at all to buy at B&N, and nothing at Target either (was looking there for casual clothes for the trip). Did get a couple of bills mailed, and stopped by Publix for lunch (a Waldorf salad) and some sin for later (B&J frozen yogurt and macademia nut cookies-- to be doled out over the next few days). I can see that learning to resist dietary sin will be one of my first orders of business PR.

Battlestar Galactica just gets better and better-- I watched both episodes of a two-parter today ("Home")-- just amazing. Also got an episode guide online, and had TiVo check to see where they are with reruns. It will work out well-- once I finish the first half of Season 2 on DVD, they'll be re-running the rest, so I won't have to wait for DVD 2.2 to continue. With any luck, I'll be set to start watching Season 3 as it airs-- and will FINALLY be able to talk to other fans about it-- there are several at work, but I've not wanted to be spoiled. Sounds like this was the most interesting part of my day, doesn't it? Well, it was.

A wonderful thunderstorm late this afternoon, good hard rain. A big thump on the roof, though-- something big came down. Will have to check on it tomorrow.

I Blessed the house's floors and carpets. Would'a dusted too, except that my feather duster is shedding so badly. I need to shampoo it and see if that fixes the problem. If not, well, it's nearly 4 years old, which is perhaps a long lifespan for feathers, after all.

Still no firm plans for the getaway. Regardless, I'm taking next week off. I will just plan meals one day at a time until things are settled.

How lovely to wake up in the night and hear your sprinklers raining at the appointed hour, Mom. And I hope this time they put your cable in more weather-resistant conduit. I'm guessing that the cable has to go up the hill, which may be contributing to the problem. Christ, my years as a network geek are still with me, it seems.

Doug's kids are both teens now-- Megan is a senior, and will have to face her final semester of high school in a new school, poor kid. But this will qualify her for a tuition break at any Georgia university. Young Douglass is a freshman, a serious viola player. He will have better musical opportunities in Atlanta, for sure. As far as I can tell, neither of them got much into winter activities there, and Atlanta still does get at least some snow most years, and real seasons. It will be much more convenient for Renee to visit her family, which she does each summer. She, in particular, hates Idaho, and will embrace being back in a large city and proximity to the ocean. It sounds like a big win all around. I'm glad you got to meet them at the wedding, so you have a sense of who they all are.

Trying to decide what to take along to read. Thought it might be Jonathan Strange, but can't seem to locate the house hardback copy. If all else fails, I'll pick up the mass market PB-- better for travel anyway.

Yay Doug!

Gainesville

More exciting news here: Doug, who has been interviewing for jobs for quite a few years now, has gotten a great offer from Georgia State-- he will be the new VP for Student Affairs! We are all thrilled, and very happy for him. What makes this offer particularly amazing and gratifying is that it was so unlikely. When he was met at the airport for the interview, his greeter's jaw dropped open and she sputtered, "But we thought you were black!" There were several other indications during the interview process that a minority candidate was what they were looking for. But he prevailed, despite the prejudice, and he starts October 1. I think more frequent trips to Atlanta will be in our future.

Aftermath of the Library West opening continues to be gratifyingly positive. Here're some pictures from the opening and the Gainesville Sun's follow up coverage.

Sorry to hear about the unpacking mishap-- and after all that time, too. Most annoying. But at least your sprinklers are a go.

(Soft) Opening Day

Gainesville

Dense couple of days. Yesterday the Two strange parties. First, Cataloging's "Beach Party" ran from 11 to 2:30, and there was just no avoiding it. They decorated the entire department, including the stair landing to look like a beach (even to showing a video of beach and surfing scenes on the wall, real sand and shells, a row of muumuus) and had a live musician playing keyboard and singing Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffett-type songs. Tons of food, of course. Silk flowered leis for all, and people wore Hawaiian shirts and similar stuff. Wretched excess all around. (I think this group has now jumped the shark, party-wise.)

After work we headed for the Outback party. Mom, you would have absolutely LOVED this affair! They served all their best stuff appetizer style-- steak, chicken, salmon, cut into bite-sized pieces, rack of lamb cut into single chops, etc. -- all you wanted of anything. They held it in the outer room (don't think we ate in there when you visited), which has its own little bar. Mel was working it, and we got a chance to get caught up with her. Bill talked to her husband, but I didn't get a chance to. Angie brought her husband and two boys-- one about 5, learning to shake hands when he meets people (so sweet), the other about 8 months. Angie looked beautiful, all dolled up. It was a lot of fun, and very nice of the local management to put something like this on. About 30-40 people there.

Then today-- The Grande (but soft, soft...) Opening. The "soft" part was pretty silly-- how low-key is it when it was front page feature news in the Alligator yesterday and the Gainesville Sun today? It opened at 1:00 PM, and turned out to be very exciting, and in a good way! A couple of kids actually brought sleeping bags and camped overnight so they could be the first in the door (!!) and there was quite a crowd waiting by the time the doors actually revolved for the first time. I went over a little after 2:00 and there were people everywhere! It was very gratifying, and the staff, who'd been really nervous about what to expect, were all grinning like kids with a new toy. There are the predictable little glitches of course (and poor Bill-- he had to stay til after 7:00, and be on the phone even after we got home working out problems with security) but a great success overall. I'm sure Bill will actually be able to breathe that sigh of relief Real Soon Now...

There are some real howlers in both news stories, by the way. I will send Mom clippings via snail mail, as there are pictures and stuff that didn't make it in the online versions.

This opening has been so all-consuming that we've not had a chance to finalize the WV plans. Nice to have the luxury of being spontaneous with all this. I'll be out of the office until at least August 14, regardless. Getting close to the point where I have more vacation left to burn than work days. Yikes!

Congrats on the sprinkler system install, Mom! And thanks to Charlie for being there to oversee it. I'm really glad to hear this project has happened, and know you will enjoy the convenience of easy watering.

Ka-Choo!

Gainesville

It was 7:15 when we left the office tonight. Sounds like a Pizza Night to me-- but actually it was Bill's choice.

Monday, lots of rain. My boss's last official day at work, and she had an email problem/request that took me most of the morning to solve. I was glad for the focus, and a chance to document another obscure how-to that may come in handy after I'm gone. Mostly now I get trouble tickets for things that no one has seen before-- the Sys Help gang is learning to do what I do, and I must say, they are doing well at it. I won't be missed, as the specialty moves so fast that whatever I do know will be obsolete in a few months anyway.

Found myself chatting with anyone who happened across my path. I suspect that when I'm in the Tank doing volunteer work, I'll feel much freer about shooting the shit in such circumstances. Not having to justify every minute of every day to a bean-counter will be liberating, to say the least.

Good for you, Mom-- both NT and organ. I'm so proud of you!

We had two thunderstorms today, the latter of which made the lights go out for a few seconds. All quiet again, but sneezing lingers. A new month has already started, and I can finally switch over to the FL 2007 Calendar.

Clothes laid out. Kitchen in order. Ready to face the morrow, with any luck. Look for a report of the wo strange parties.

G'nite.