Things have been fairly mellow around here since the big breakup. Rhi's happy with her new/old boyfriend and he seems pretty happy with her. It's about the most mature relationship she's been in so far. She's not all crazy when they can't be together. She doesn't always think that he's off with someone else or anything like that, which is really refreshing.
We went over to Dawn's last night after Troy got off of work (I went earlier & he met me over there) and played Apples to Apples. Rhi & Sean showed up awhile later & added to the fun, which was really great. Who'd have thought that such a simple game would be so much fun? We kept expecting Charley & Vicki to show up, because she had mentioned coming over, but they didn't. Speaking of Vicki, she's taking a class on financially responsibility or something & is really getting it together. She's pushing Charley to help her get them out of debt & is already starting to look at real estate so that she knows when the market drops enough for her to be able to afford a home the size they need.
Charley did finally show up, right as we were finishing up & getting ready to go to bed. There will always be a little tension if Sean is there when they are, because his sister & Vicki's brother are in the middle of a divorce, but I think it'll be ok in the long run.
We'll be going over tonight for dinner & gaming & I'm really looking forward to it, because Dawn's making her homemade chicken noodle soup!!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Going Green
I recently found a web site, called Green and More that specializes in eco friendly products. They probably have hundreds of really cool eco products available on their site, from soapstone cookware (which is really beautiful, by the way) to organic baby bedding and everything in between. Green and more also helps support environmental charities, like Oceana & Healthy Child Healthy World, but more than that, this company lives their beliefs & doesn't use any plastic, offers recycled office supplies & kitchen goods and uses 100% recycled boxes.
The company also offers a learning center on the web site with tons of valuable information on living green & conservation from the sources like the EPA & the US Department of Energy along with a blog called GreenMusings, where the staff & public share their "going green" stories. Its a very interesting and informative wed site that I really think is worth a look, especially if you have any interest in conservation, the environment or going green.
Some of their shopping departments:
Gifts: They have a lot of really cool things in here, including a solar-powered messenger bag, so you can keep your electronics plugged in when you're on the go.
Air Purifiers: They have a bunch of really nice choices in here, along with some super-stylish ones, too.
Accessories: They have a solar powered tote bag in here if you don't use messenger bags. Pretty cool.
Gadgets: They have a ton of cool things in here, you really have to see this site to believe it.
Other shopping areas are baby, bath, bedding, energy savings, solar power, furniture, garden and so muchmore. Check them out, I don't think you'll be disappointed!
The company also offers a learning center on the web site with tons of valuable information on living green & conservation from the sources like the EPA & the US Department of Energy along with a blog called GreenMusings, where the staff & public share their "going green" stories. Its a very interesting and informative wed site that I really think is worth a look, especially if you have any interest in conservation, the environment or going green.
Some of their shopping departments:
Gifts: They have a lot of really cool things in here, including a solar-powered messenger bag, so you can keep your electronics plugged in when you're on the go.
Air Purifiers: They have a bunch of really nice choices in here, along with some super-stylish ones, too.
Accessories: They have a solar powered tote bag in here if you don't use messenger bags. Pretty cool.
Gadgets: They have a ton of cool things in here, you really have to see this site to believe it.
Other shopping areas are baby, bath, bedding, energy savings, solar power, furniture, garden and so muchmore. Check them out, I don't think you'll be disappointed!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Arg!!
You know what I find to be really annoying? Those stupid pop-under windows. You know the ones that show up under your main browser window when you close it. Has any developer put out a popup blocker that takes care of those, yet? I know my settings in Firefox don't, I wonder if anything does. It just gets to be a little much, some days I'll be getting ready to shut my browser down & have to close 5 extra windows because I didn't notice them before. It's not like I'd ever buy anything on one of those ads anyway, so I think they're somewhat useless, really.
Anyway.
Troy called me from work earlier & he seemed really sad. He said he'd tell me what was up when he got home, but I'm really kind of worried about him, now. I hate when he has bad days at work, he takes them so hard.
Anyway.
Troy called me from work earlier & he seemed really sad. He said he'd tell me what was up when he got home, but I'm really kind of worried about him, now. I hate when he has bad days at work, he takes them so hard.
Crazy College Kids
Back when I was of college age, the big drinking game was "Quarters," and I know a lot of people still play that game. It seems the the latest craze in drinking games is called "Beer Pong." It's a game with two teams, and basically you rack between 6 & 10 cups on each end of the table (you can even buy beer pong tables made just for the game), and the teams take turns tossing a ping pong ball at the opposite end, trying to get the ball into a cup. When the ball makes it into the cup then the side who's cup it was has to drink it. The object is to eliminate the other team's cups before yours get eliminated. The losing team has to drink the winning team's remaining cups at the end of the game. It sounds like a fun game & I probably would have loved it in my younger days. Have any of you heard of it?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Grrr
Some of the things that I've heard that went on in Rhi & Kris' relationship (now that she broke up with him), make me want to show him some alternate uses for a Mizuno golf club. I wouldn't, but there's no harm in imagining, is there? Other than the typical thing almost all teenage boys do with pressuring their girlfriends for sex, he was actually threatening to rape her if she didn't give in (she didn't). He treated her like she was nothing to him, at least as soon as he got her to agree to marry him anyway. There were a lot of things he did and things that he said during the 11 months they were together that lead me to believe that he's mentally ill.
Normal people don't honestly believe that they have wings under their skin.
After he started getting angry because she started telling me & her friends what had been going on, he went on MySpace & posted a blog about her full of lies. He claimed that she's a self-cutter (she isn't & trust me, between me & Sean, we'd know), that she was suicidal (she was depressed, but it was about him & that relationship) and that he used the threat of rape to distract her so he could get her calmed down. I read the blog to her & Sean, and when I was done, he stood up & headed for his room, telling her he had a phone call to make & to wait in the living room. I have no idea what he said exactly, but I did get the gist of it & I know that shortly after that, Kris deleted the blog post & put one up about how he was moving on. I honestly hope that he is.
Normal people don't honestly believe that they have wings under their skin.
After he started getting angry because she started telling me & her friends what had been going on, he went on MySpace & posted a blog about her full of lies. He claimed that she's a self-cutter (she isn't & trust me, between me & Sean, we'd know), that she was suicidal (she was depressed, but it was about him & that relationship) and that he used the threat of rape to distract her so he could get her calmed down. I read the blog to her & Sean, and when I was done, he stood up & headed for his room, telling her he had a phone call to make & to wait in the living room. I have no idea what he said exactly, but I did get the gist of it & I know that shortly after that, Kris deleted the blog post & put one up about how he was moving on. I honestly hope that he is.
Don't Fear Change, Embrace It
I almost feel like I need to put on some latex exam gloves to even deal with this subject, but here I go. It seems like very forum I visit these days, and even in some discussions I have with people I hang out with, everyone is talking about Windows Vista & how terrible it is. Why is it that, in the mind of the public, every new version of Windows is evil and worse than the last? When XP came out, everyone was griping and holding on to 98, because XP was bug-ridden and slowed everyone's processors to a crawl, so matter how much memory they had... and on & on. I'm hearing the same thing, now, about Vista & everyone is saying how much better XP is.
Ok.
I got a new computer from Dell in September. It, of course, came with Vista. It also has an Inspiron 531s, Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.0GHz, 512Kx2) processor & 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz. I'm not running slowly, I have had no problems with Vista & it's bugs, at least not any more than I had with XP. Yes, it was annoying to be asked permission to do everything, all the time. At least it was at first, I got used to it. I had a few problems getting my widescreen monitor set at the right resolution, but that was an issue with my video card that I fixed with an outside program and not one with Vista. It's possible that people are trying to run Vista without having dual core processors, or enough memory, all I know is that it runs my games way better than XP ever did, and I played the same games on my old machine.
Why does everyone fear change so much? Why do they assume that a computer runs slowly because of the OS instead of investigating other possible causes first? If mine starts running slowly, I know it's time to scan for adware again & defrag. I keep a very clean machine, I uninstall programs I'm not using, I clean my disk regularly & defrag often, so the minute it bogs down, I know there's something on there that doesn't belong. Change isn't always a big, scary thing, it just takes getting used to. Yes, we all like our comfort zone, but XP isn't going to be what runs everything forever, just like 98 wasn't. Sometimes I think people just won't take the time to get used to a new OS because it takes them outside their comfort zone. They race back to what they know & dismiss the new.
To me, it's very akin to people who assume every noise they hear in an old house is a ghost, when they ought to be trying to find out a physical reason for it first, you know?
Ok.
I got a new computer from Dell in September. It, of course, came with Vista. It also has an Inspiron 531s, Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.0GHz, 512Kx2) processor & 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz. I'm not running slowly, I have had no problems with Vista & it's bugs, at least not any more than I had with XP. Yes, it was annoying to be asked permission to do everything, all the time. At least it was at first, I got used to it. I had a few problems getting my widescreen monitor set at the right resolution, but that was an issue with my video card that I fixed with an outside program and not one with Vista. It's possible that people are trying to run Vista without having dual core processors, or enough memory, all I know is that it runs my games way better than XP ever did, and I played the same games on my old machine.
Why does everyone fear change so much? Why do they assume that a computer runs slowly because of the OS instead of investigating other possible causes first? If mine starts running slowly, I know it's time to scan for adware again & defrag. I keep a very clean machine, I uninstall programs I'm not using, I clean my disk regularly & defrag often, so the minute it bogs down, I know there's something on there that doesn't belong. Change isn't always a big, scary thing, it just takes getting used to. Yes, we all like our comfort zone, but XP isn't going to be what runs everything forever, just like 98 wasn't. Sometimes I think people just won't take the time to get used to a new OS because it takes them outside their comfort zone. They race back to what they know & dismiss the new.
To me, it's very akin to people who assume every noise they hear in an old house is a ghost, when they ought to be trying to find out a physical reason for it first, you know?
Sunday, January 13, 2008
What Do You Think?
Have you ever thought about installing a hidden spy camera in your home to see what goes on while you're not there? I never really have, because I've never hired a nanny or an in-home babysitter for my kids, but I really can see where you might want to in that case. I would want to be assured that my children weren't being abused or neglected while I was gone.
I know home that have teenage children that could benefit from one, as well. My best friend's 14 year old is always sneaking out of the house (or sneaking boys in) at all hours ofthe night. She also steals from her mother & takes bottles of alcohol out of the house. Her mom could really use a hidden spy camera in their house. So, while I don't think I'd ever install one to spy on my spouse or my employees, I will admit that they have their uses. What's your opinion?
I know home that have teenage children that could benefit from one, as well. My best friend's 14 year old is always sneaking out of the house (or sneaking boys in) at all hours ofthe night. She also steals from her mother & takes bottles of alcohol out of the house. Her mom could really use a hidden spy camera in their house. So, while I don't think I'd ever install one to spy on my spouse or my employees, I will admit that they have their uses. What's your opinion?
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Busy Weekend
Our weekend is shaping up to be fairly busy already. Today we've already had to run out to Troy's job, because he forgot his wallet there when he came home. Pretty soon I'll need to wrap up Jaycie's birthday gift, and start getting ready to go to her birthday party. She's having it at the bowling alley and I'm really hoping my mom & dad will be there, so we have someone to visit with. This evening is gaming, as usual. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get the house cleaned up & the Christmas decorations taken back to the storage unit.
We never went anywhere in our big kitchen redecorating venture, so I'd like to sit down with Troy at some point tomorrow and talk to him about it and see if we still plan to. I wish we had a DirectBuy somewhere in my area. It would certainly make getting everything we need for the job a lot easier. Since we don't, I guess we'll make do. I'm still not sure how much I want to do to a place I don't own, you know?
We never went anywhere in our big kitchen redecorating venture, so I'd like to sit down with Troy at some point tomorrow and talk to him about it and see if we still plan to. I wish we had a DirectBuy somewhere in my area. It would certainly make getting everything we need for the job a lot easier. Since we don't, I guess we'll make do. I'm still not sure how much I want to do to a place I don't own, you know?
Monday, January 07, 2008
Exciting Stuff!
We've known for awhile that our friends Mark & Sarah (we officiated at their wedding last April) are having a baby, they're expecting in late March or early April, I think. We just found out that another friend, Jeremy, and his girlfriend, Grace, are also expecting. They told their family on Christmas morning & just found out a couple of days before that. I'm pretty excited, I love to make & shop for baby gifts, and always have. More babies to spoil is always a good thing, in my opinion!
Mark & Sarah should be finding out pretty soon what they're having. They're pretty sure it's a girl, but I keep thinking it may be a boy, so we're all pretty excited to find out. I want to make them a sweater & hat set, but I don't want to start until I know the gender. I wouldn't want it to be too girly if they end up with a boy, you know?
Mark & Sarah should be finding out pretty soon what they're having. They're pretty sure it's a girl, but I keep thinking it may be a boy, so we're all pretty excited to find out. I want to make them a sweater & hat set, but I don't want to start until I know the gender. I wouldn't want it to be too girly if they end up with a boy, you know?
Happy New Year!!
Wow, I hadn't realized it had been so long since I posted in here. I got a little busy in the past few days, although I can't say for sure what with. I have been somewhat sick over the past few days and anymore that really takes it out of me.
We got home at around Midnight after gaming Saturday night and Rhi was nowhere to be found. She hadn't called me to ask if she could go anywhere, and her curfew is Midnight. So I texted her, she didn't answer me & then I called. She & Kris were sitting at Denny's, unable to pay, because his debit card wasn't working. I told her that she was grounded and hung up the phone & went to bed. She came in about 30 minutes later, wasn't angry or freaking out, so we had a nice, calm conversation about it & she took her punishment like an adult. I was proud of her.
I've been doing a lot of budgeting and planning since the new year started, I'm trying desperately to get a handle on our debt and finances. Especially with Rhi getting married this year and it just being the two of us. We need to rework Troy's withholding, too, so we aren't killed by taxes next year, a thought that's really stressing me out.
We got home at around Midnight after gaming Saturday night and Rhi was nowhere to be found. She hadn't called me to ask if she could go anywhere, and her curfew is Midnight. So I texted her, she didn't answer me & then I called. She & Kris were sitting at Denny's, unable to pay, because his debit card wasn't working. I told her that she was grounded and hung up the phone & went to bed. She came in about 30 minutes later, wasn't angry or freaking out, so we had a nice, calm conversation about it & she took her punishment like an adult. I was proud of her.
I've been doing a lot of budgeting and planning since the new year started, I'm trying desperately to get a handle on our debt and finances. Especially with Rhi getting married this year and it just being the two of us. We need to rework Troy's withholding, too, so we aren't killed by taxes next year, a thought that's really stressing me out.
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