| Keeping a safe distance... |
[Feb. 9th, 2010|01:50 pm] |
Andrew was sent home from school today... can't return until Thursday. School nurse says he tested positive for strep throat. He has three prescriptions to take. |
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| Blah |
[Feb. 7th, 2010|04:40 pm] |
Who freggin' cares about a stupid ball game?!? Getting tired of hearing about it! Hope the Louisiana team loses, so the local TV news (talking to YOU KNOE) will get back to reporting REAL local news, not spending the first 10 minutes of the newscast talking about sports... which AIN'T NEWS!!! That sh*t belongs in the final 10 minutes of the newscast, not the FIRST 10 minutes!
Same rule applies to the local high school teams... keep the games OFF the local classic rock stations (talking to YOU LA105FM)... if the station wants to air freggin' sports, change your format to an all-sports format! If someone locally wants to see the local high school team... let them GO to the darn game! Besides, sports drain too much money from the schools... money that should be used for EDUCATION! If high school kids want to play sports, let the parents pony up the money as an after-school activity!
/rant over |
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| Bandwidth Hog |
[Feb. 7th, 2010|02:17 pm] |
Even though I've heard no complaints, I imagine my ISP hates me. This household is probably using more bandwidth at the moment than the rest of the houses on this road combined! Pushing my 6Mbps connection to its limits... surprised there hasn't been a "meltdown" yet. List of things running that I'm aware of...
1. Leo Laporte's video stream at http://live.twit.tv/
2. KFI's radio station player at http://kfi640.com/
3. Trillian Astra instant messenger
4. Firefox browser
5. Thunderbird email client
6. Justin.tv streaming applet
7. 5 webcams uploading a still image every 20 seconds
8. Desktop capture software uploading an image every 30 seconds
9. The son is using one of his 2 game systems online
10. He probably has something running on his laptop also |
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| Random "not much to report" report... |
[Feb. 4th, 2010|08:33 pm] |
Andrew had the day off school today. Had a dentist appointment at 10:15am, and since that is the middle of the school day, couldn't see him attending.
Been getting a lot of those "Your computer is INFECTED! Click THIS LINK to repair!" messages over Skype the past couple of days. Might have to lock Skype down to only people on my list... even though there are only three people on my list so far.
It's been pissing rain ALL day again. Getting tired of all this moisture... the yard is almost the consistency of quicksand!
Got sleepy around mid-afternoon, took a three-hour nap. Didn't want to sleep too long, I'd be waking up at 2am if I did!
Watched the Blu-ray last night of "Gone With The Wind" I picked up yesterday. Looks like it could have been filmed yesterday, as clear as the picture is! Got a second disc in the set to watch eventually, full of bonus features, including the documentary "The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind", which I recorded off TCM on VHS ages ago. Only bad thing about the "Gone With The Wind" box, it has a DVD version of the documentary "MGM: When The Lion Roared", which was also in the "Wizard of Oz" Blu-ray set I bought recently... so now I have TWO copies of that! But the box also has a small hardcover book with pictures from the film, a CD soundtrack sampler disc, copies of Western Union telegrams sent by the studio and producers while the movie was in production, a reprint of the original "program" handed out at the premiere, and some postcards with paintings of various buildings in the film.
Had a "healthy" dinner... three hot dogs.
In my previous post about TV aspect ratios, I was using a DVD of "The Benny Hill Show" to illustrate, and "Hill's Angel" Louise English was on the screen. Had a "thing" for that woman as far back in the early 1980's, when I first saw Benny Hill on HBO. I still think she looks fantastic... but then again, she is only 3 years older than I am!
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| Aspects... Opinions... |
[Feb. 3rd, 2010|03:05 pm] |
Since I've had a HDTV since last March, can't believe I'm just now getting around to asking this question...
Those of you with "modern" flat panel televisions, when watching an older standard definition program, whether on broadcast, DVD, or Blu-ray, if it was originally filmed/taped in 4:3 format, do you watch it in the "Original Aspect Ratio" like this:
Or do you change your settings to view it in the "Fixed Aspect Ratio", like this:
The "Fixed Ratio", in my opinion doesn't look bad, but you lose a tiny amount of the video, not enough to make much of a difference though. In "Original", you have the black bars on the left and right of the screen, but you're seeing the picture the way it was shot. The bars don't bother me either (I tend to just "blank them out" in my mind), it's just a concern I have about screen "burn-in", although both Leo Laporte and Scott Wilkinson both say modern TV's don't suffer from burn-in as fast as older ones.
Anyone have a longer experience with HDTV's than I do, and want to give their opinions, feel free to comment. Inquiring minds want to know... |
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| A lot accomplished... |
[Feb. 2nd, 2010|02:30 pm] |
So far today, I called Dish Network, to knock down the programming package I subscribe to, in an effort to save a few bucks a month... filled out my yearly income tax online... went and bought some groceries... and stopped by the Subway sammich shop and bought my usual foot-long "Italian BMT" with double meat, and "the works". I was going to go ahead and do my state income tax also, but the Louisiana state website is currently "fubar", so I'll have to wait a while for that.
Mom is leaving later this afternoon for Mississippi. Uncle Bill's funeral is tomorrow. I'm staying here in case a job calls, and make sure the boy wakes up for school in the morning. Gave mom a copy of the DVD I made the other day, so she can give it to my cousin while she is there. |
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| Irony Strikes! |
[Feb. 1st, 2010|04:55 pm] |
Isn't it a bit "ironic" if a couple of home theater experts are discussing color calibration of screens, yet one is too orange, and one is too pink?
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| More Bad News... |
[Jan. 30th, 2010|07:23 pm] |
Just found out that my Aunt Mary, my Uncle Floyd's wife, is in the hospital, in intensive care, on a respirator. They aren't allowing anyone to visit her, but mom has went to the hospital to visit with Uncle Floyd for a while. Guess I wasn't keeping up with Uncle Floyd and Aunt Mary as closely as I should have the last few years, being I didn't know she had gotten THAT ill, but the lack of communication can be blamed on Aunt Mary's daughter (from a previous marriage). She lives in the house with them, so I avoided that "area" at all costs. For those who missed the fireworks of the July 3, 2006 post, and the reason I wasn't in contact much... most of the reason is in THIS POST, in the reply to the comments. |
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| Dubbing... |
[Jan. 30th, 2010|02:52 pm] |
About three years ago, I bought a low-end, off brand VCR/DVD recorder combo unit at Wal-Mart for $88. Rarely used it all this time for anything much, since most movies I had on VHS, I've re-purchased on DVD already. Matter of fact, I had to drag out the booklet that came with it just now, to refresh myself about the settings. I put a blank DVD-R in the DVD side, and a VHS of a family get-together from 1992 in the VHS side.
The tape has Uncle Bill featured rather promitely throughout the happenings, the reason I'm attempting to transfer it to DVD. If the dubbing works, I should have a decent master DVD to copy for any relatives that might want a copy. The PC has two DVD drives, so copying would be rather easy. I just wish I could make a dub from the ORIGINAL tape recorded from the camcorder, instead of the VHS copy, because it would look a lot better, but I no longer have a 8mm format machine (ex sold it for some reason she never gave a reason for back in 1995), and you can't find them in stores anymore.
Back in 2006, I uploaded a couple of excerpts from the tape to YouTube...
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| Uncle update |
[Jan. 30th, 2010|10:42 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | death, relatives | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  okay | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Bill Handel on the Law" at http://kfi640.com/ | ] |
Just got a call from mom. She got a call from Uncle Barrett earlier, saying Uncle Bill passed away between 5:30-6:00am this morning. No more details available at the moment. |
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| Meh... |
[Jan. 27th, 2010|12:23 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | computers, gadgets | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | blah | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Buzz Out Loud" at http://cnettv.cnet.com/9776-19709_53-0.html | ] |
"iPad"?? Sounds like a feminine hygiene product...
EDIT: I guess I wasn't too far off in that assessment...
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| Blah "Hump Day" Post |
[Jan. 27th, 2010|09:06 am] |
Been feeling craptastic for two days now... eyes watering, nose running, headache... all I feel like doing is sleeping. Might think about seeing a doctor if not better in a couple of days.
Woke up this morning sweating profusely, but it wasn't from not feeling well... the son had turned up the heat sometime overnight, and the thermostat was up around 90F! He said he got cold last night. Checked his room... no wonder he got cold... the ceiling vent was closed! Duh!
Just knocked 10 "followers" off Twitter... some spammers, some trolls. The trolls had laid low a few days, but are starting back again. Their parents must be out of town, and they are skipping school. Had forgotten to set the password on my chat room the other evening, and the next morning, I found one lurking there. Immediately kicked and banned the idiot (not that it will help, if Dan was right, and they are using something called "bounce servers"). This morning, had a private message on the chat server from the moron, inviting me to another room, named similar to mine. Thinking of making a report to the owners of the IRC server. A friend the other day asked me, "Why don't you just take your website offline?". I'm NOT going to do that. Not going to let a few teenage losers with no life get the better of me! If they are adults, they never grew out of the 5 year old mentality level.
Mom was going to see my ailing uncle again yesterday, but he is in the hospital, having to be restrained, so she decided to put off the visit a while, hoping he will get to where he is more to himself. My cousin said he was skipping his meds, and the doctor thinks the fighting he is doing with everyone might be medicine withdrawl symptons.
Congrats to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sabatoa and the new member of the family! |
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| I'd Hit It... |
[Jan. 25th, 2010|07:24 pm] |
Not much on TV tonight, thus the reason I'm thinking of knocking off Dish at the end of the month (I'm online more)... sooo, even though I didn't submit any questions on Twitter earlier, I'm watching Reba on Ustream.tv answer fan questions...
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| No WONDER I have HBP... |
[Jan. 25th, 2010|07:01 pm] |
This will be a two paragraph "rambling rant"... The son came in from school today still griping, even though I tried giving him a lot of the facts mentioned earlier in the previous post. Also, he keeps swearing the main high school has a class for "special needs" students (he goes to OPAC-Ouachita Parish Alternative Center), yet both the principal and councelor from Riser Middle School and his councelor through Cognitive Development Center say that the high school has no such thing, and he is at his current school to learn a "trade", to try and make it in the real world, because with his short attention span, he'd never make it at the high school. Besides, when I went to the high school in my teen years, even though I was in regular classes, I was picked on to no end by the other kids, so I can imagine what he'd go through! I agree with the attention deficit diagnoses, because no matter HOW much I nag him, he STILL just throws his dirty clothes on the floor instead of in the hamper, and leaves dirty dishes in his room, instead of taking them to the kitchen. Still think, at the rate he's going, he's going to wind up like his Uncle Scott, who last I heard is STILL in Angola serving a 60 year sentence.
My other "rambling rant"... Turned on the local news at 5pm this afternoon on KNOE-TV8... what do I get? NO ACTUAL NEWS!!! Lead "story"... Saints to the Super Bowl! Sorry "so called news folk", but sports AIN'T NEWS!!! Stick that shit at the end of the newscast with the rest of the sports where it belongs! I immediately turned the TV off and came in here to where I have the computer! AND... as for you, KTVE-NBC 10, while I'm ranting... get some decent studio cameras, and a CONSTANT volume level, and I just might start watching YOUR local news again! The Jay Leno lead-in had nothing to do with me not watching your local news since earlier last year... it's your CRAPPY quality! ALSO... a local radio station to rant at... LA105-FM... I really like your station, but I turn it off when a freckin' high school football game is on instead of my classic rock! Make up your minds!! Are you a classic rock station, or a freggin' sports station?!? If I cared a stinkin' cuss about "local football", I'd go to the freggin' game! |
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| Mad Son |
[Jan. 25th, 2010|03:15 pm] |
Andrew got mad yesterday afternoon because his girlfriends mom offered to come pick him up and drive him to school on some mornings, and I told him "No, you're taking the bus."
He "dated" this girl one time before, and they had a falling out, I think because he was visiting her far too often and wearing out his welcome, so to speak. She was apparently the one that called and wanted to get back together with him. For that reason, and a couple of others I can think of, THAT is why I told him he'd still have to take the bus to school. The other two reasons, 1.) If the girls mom had an accident on the way to the school, and Andrew got hurt, there would definetely be "ill will", because I'd be suing for any and all damages. 2.)If he missed too many days not catching the bus in the mornings, the driver would probably quit stopping here altogether.
Last night, he threatened to move out on his 17th birthday, and move in with her. Right...good luck with that! He said an online friend told him he could "legally" move out at age 17. Well, according to state law (which I looked up earlier today), a minor cannot be legally emancipated in the state of Louisiana until age 18, unless it is proven in court the minor has been being abused or what have you. Also, if it is found the minor is lying to the court, they can be locked up in a juvenile facility.
I told him that the girls mom wouldn't want to feed and clothe him AND her daughter. He said he'd get a job. Good luck with that also. You have to stay in school in this state until you are 18, or get a "General Education Diploma", and even then, with the economy the way it is, you just can't run out and get a job at the snap of a finger! I've been looking over two months myself!
Both my mom and I informed him yesterday, that as long as he is here, he can't do just whatever he wants... he has to abide by the rules WE give him. If he keeps acting up, he will probably wind up in a juvenile facility before he hits 18 anyway. Also, we both informed him, if he moves out before he is prepared to make it on his own, he will be "on his own", in the literal sense... because he won't be welcome back here... if he finds himself with nowhere to stay, he can go find his mother again! |
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| Argh... |
[Jan. 25th, 2010|01:22 pm] |
The 'puter is havin' "issues"... completely froze while watching "Buzz Out Loud" on CNET. Had to hard reboot! Second time in three days! |
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| Not Good News |
[Jan. 23rd, 2010|12:43 pm] |
As I mentioned in yesterdays post, mom and Uncle Barrett went yesterday to visit Uncle Bill, who has advanced lung cancer. He has deteriorated to the point that he has bouts of dementia, doesn't recognize some people, and has to stay in bed most of the time. He has developed bed sores as a result. My cousin is thinking of sending him to a nursing facility, even though he doesn't want to go. The doctor is now saying he has 90 days, at the most.
In other news, Andrew will be out most of the afternoon. Went to a movie with his girlfriend. The girlfriends grandmother provided transportation. I neglected to ask what movie they were seeing. In the meantime, I'm doing a couple loads of laundry, and will be listening to Leo Laporte's "The Tech Guy" radio show a bit later. |
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| Friday Randomness |
[Jan. 22nd, 2010|04:33 pm] |
Mom and Uncle Barrett left early this morning to visit ailing Uncle Bill in Mississippi. He still has to be on oxygen, and mom said last time they visited, he wasn't looking well at all, and his eyes looked like they were sunk back in his head a bit... but he was still coherent, and doing things for himself. The outlook is a bit grim though.
The other night, during the heavy thunderstorms, Andrew came in here with his laptop and said if the power goes out, his laptop would be good for another 2½ hours. I neglected to mention to him, however, if the power went out, the modem and router would be out also. He'd be very limited in what he'd be able to do with the laptop.
You can tell I got a bit bored this afternoon... went to Twitter, and searched the names of LiveJournal and Facebook friends, to see how many I might have missed that have Twitter accounts. Found a few, and followed them, but most either have never made a "tweet", or haven't updated in quite some time.
Found an interesting website in one of the forums at Broadband Reports... you can look up who was the Playboy Playmate of the Month in the month and year you were born. Link to the site is HERE(NSFW). Apparently, Lannie Balcom(Link NSFW) was Playmate of the Month in August 1965. I ain't complainin'! Didn't post the image here directly, because these posts cross over to Facebook, and I think their TOS frowns on nudity.
Finally, because of the late-night talk show fiasco, the NBC Network has changed their Peacock logo to something more appropriate...
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| Anyone got a boat? |
[Jan. 21st, 2010|12:35 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | dampness, rain, weather | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  bitchy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "No Agenda" podcast with Curry and Dvorak | ] |
The amount of rain here in northeast Louisiana has been crazy since late October. The Ouachita River, although not overflowing because of the levees, has been above flood stage since early December, with partial cave-ins in parts of the levees, which can't be repaired until the river gets lower. In the 44 years I've been here, I've never seen THIS much rain! The ground on this acre of land is SO saturated, I have to put on rubber boots just to walk next door to my mothers place! The yard, the way it looks this afternoon, after another night of thunderstorms...
The front yard...
( Three more pics... ) |
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| Writer's Block: A rose by any other name ... |
[Jan. 21st, 2010|10:42 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | writer's block | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  dorky | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Handel on the News" | ] |
I have no imagination whatsoever. Albert being my first name, 71292 being my zip code. I use this name on most online accounts and instant messengers. |
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| "Hump Day" Randomness |
[Jan. 20th, 2010|07:22 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | random | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  groggy | ] |
Well, I'm awake, and the son just got on the bus. The other kind of "sun" isn't expected to be out much today however, severe thunderstorms in the forecast.
Why is it that most of the ladies I've met that I think I would get along the best with since the divorce are all online, and live too far away for me to do anything about?
Filled out another six job applications yesterday morning. Still haven't heard from any of the other places I've applied at... the economy... and Wal-Mart... SUCKS!
Why do people knock on my door asking questions I have no clue about? Back when the house next door was empty, people would knock on my door asking did I own it, and was it for rent. Yesterday afternoon a woman knocks on the door asking if I own the land BEHIND my house, which used to be wooded before someone started hauling dirt and gravel from back there. She said she was curious because she noticed someone staking off parts of it recently, and wanted to know if it was for sale. Told her I had no clue WHO owned it. Almost asked her if she saw someone staking off parts of it, why didn't she ask HIM?!?
Well, enough rambling for the moment... about to hop in the shower, and by the time I'm out, the pot of coffee I started brewing should be ready for consumption... |
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| Dumbasses... |
[Jan. 17th, 2010|05:08 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | assholes, banning, chat, trolls | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | aggravated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "This Week in Tech" at http://live.twit.tv/ | ] |
The morons that have been trolling my website the past few weeks invaded the "Twit Live" chat this afternoon, posting all kinds of links and using rude language. Dan, one of the main room ops, was very fast to kick and ban the assholes... as he is with any troll that enters the room. Guess they found the room because I posted on Facebook and Twitter I was watching "The Tech Guy".
All I can say, is I wish those assholes a slow, painful DEATH! |
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| Damn Trolls... |
[Jan. 16th, 2010|07:29 pm] |
The trolls invaded my website chat room again this evening, ironically after I mentioned trolls in an earlier journal post TODAY. Except this time, since the children without adult supervision are aware of my website and journal, invaded the channel on Justin.tv I was watching tonight, under the name "kelli_sims". I spotted that a mile away, so told the mods in the channel I was in, since them, and the channel owner, know me by now. The channel owner threatened to ban if they kept up the snarky remarks, then the person left. Also, I sent an abuse report to Jtv, explaining the person was acting like someone they aren't.
Damn hard trying to keep a "public" website up, and weeding out trolls at the same time! Anyone else have these problems?
UPDATE: Decided to "password" the chat room on my website, as suggested by a friend in Leo Laporte's chat room. Only people I know will get the password. If anyone wants the password, send an email to request it. If I don't recognise you, you will NOT be emailed the password! |
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| Yuck... |
[Jan. 16th, 2010|03:11 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | rain, weather | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | lazy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Leo Laporte, "The Tech Guy" at http://live.twit.tv/ | ] |
It's a-cold and a-wet out there...
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| Rainy Saturday |
[Jan. 16th, 2010|01:31 pm] |
It's been a soggy weekend so far. I had to go out in this mess however... the food situation was getting a bit desperate. Went to "Brookshire's" this morning, stocked up on groceries for the week, spent around $156.00 total.
Mom is going out later, she needs a haircut, so since Andrew gets his hair cut at the same place, she's taking him with her, so he can get his cut also. He'll be out of school till Tuesday, because of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
I got home just in time to get the food put away, get out of my damp clothes (I forgot my umbrella), and catch the start of Leo Laporte's "The Tech Guy" radio show, which started at 1:00pm central. Internet seems a bit sluggish here this afternoon however. The video stream of his show is "sputtering" more than usual.
Ran into Camille Hathaway at the grocery store, the eccentric old lady I used to see around Wal-Mart regularly, handing out pens, notepads, and small candy bars to people. She asked why I hadn't been in Wal-Mart recently, so I explained the whole sorted mess to her. She seemed a bit pissed with Wal-Mart after that, saying she was going to complain to management there, although all that might accomplish would be to get her banned from the store.
Came home to another "obvious" troll in the chat on my website. Someone named "insect"... at a suspicious domain "into.a.scenepit.com"... Google search listed it as a domain that expired in 2007. The person only had said "hey", but I kicked 'em anyway, just because of the odd domain. If anyone I know comes into the chat, they usually use a username I recognise.
After Leo Laporte is finished, I'll probably migrate to the living room, watch some DVDs. Gonna take things lazy the rest of the day if I can! |
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| Shocking! |
[Jan. 12th, 2010|04:15 pm] |
The colder weather seems to be producing a lot of static electricity in the air... just "shocked" the cat! |
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| Hooray! |
[Jan. 10th, 2010|03:09 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | pipes, water, weather | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  content | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Leo Laporte "The Tech Guy" at http://live.twit.tv/ | ] |
The water pipes have finally thawed! |
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| Toting Water |
[Jan. 9th, 2010|01:56 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | frozen, pipes, plumbing, water | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | blah | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Leo Laporte "The Tech Guy" on http://live.twit.tv/ | ] |
Mom is out of town today visiting my ailing Uncle Bill, but since I have a key to her place next door, I let myself in to see how her water situation was. Luckily, HER water is running fine. So, I brought my supplies over there, showered, shaved, and filled my coffee pot with water and brought it here to the house, so I can have my daily pot of caffiene. While my coffee was brewing, I grabbed an empty pitcher, took it over and filled it up, so we'd have some drinking water.
Also went over and got a bucket of water, so we can flush the toilet. I have a bad feeling the pipes won't thaw until tomorrow at the earliest. The "high" today is only supposed to get 32°F/0°C. Tomorrow the "high" is supposed to be 42°F/6°C. Starting to feel like I'm living in the 1700's... |
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crazy
crappy
nostalgic
bored