Monday, out of the blocks
Things are zipping right along for a Monday morning, which is nice. Just got it arranged so we can have our Health Insurance Guy come down here to tell us about our options this year, instead of all of us abandoning the office to drive the 50-mile roundtrip back to Columbia. I hate having to drive up there during the workday just to drive back down here and have to do it over again. It's just two commutes in one day for me.
LOOK at my icon! Thank you mephisto21, from the bottom of my little heart, for my marvelous adorable piggy bank icon!
Important! If you love online music, my radio station (WTMD, the best radio station ever!) has finally started a Windows media streaming feed! Previously they were only available in RealMedia or podcast form. Give 'em a listen! It's still in beta but I've listened all morning with very little interruption. Fair warning: This week is their pledge drive, so for the full-on music experience you might want to wait 'til next week. Though if you have a few pennies to spare and want to toss some in their hat if you like what you hear, I'm sure they'd appreciate it!
And now, without further delay, the weekend that was:
I am such a creature of habit that I almost typed, "Oh, Friday night I was tired and ...." But NO! Friday was Fishing Trip Day! How could I forget? So of course the weekend sort of started on Thursday night, when I really was quite tired. Good thing, too, since I started the going-to-bed process around 8:30 or thereabouts. My coworker G. had given me a call and offered to give me a lift. We tried this last year and he overslept a lot, but he assured me he was setting two alarms this year. It's a good drive and gas costs a lot and we were on the same boat (meaning neither of us would be waiting for the other's boat when the time to leave came), so I agreed. We met up at 4 a.m. at the Columbia office (I got up at 3 a.m. and was only a minute or two late at most). A few others were meeting up there too and one pointed out that both my taillights were out. When the hell did that happen? With all the Howard Co. officers around where I live, I'm really shocked I got that far without getting pulled over and given a repair order. At any rate, we all got in our cars and we got to the dock right on time! There were only six people on our boat, which was a plus in two ways: (a) all people I liked! Yay! and (b) the sooner you catch a fish for each person on the boat (which is the limit on the license), the sooner you go back to the harbor and go home! Yes, hopes were high. I had my little cooler with a freezer pack (and a can of Caffeine Free Diet Coke for the trip home), my official shirt (complete with fish-wearing-sombrero logo!), my official hat from last year's trip, and SPF 50 sunblock. I was set. The weather was beautiful. We were pulling away from the dock by 5:25 a.m. The sunrise was simply lovely (I have pictures, but haven't gotten them off the camera yet, doh!). We puttered an hour south on the Bay. We picked our spot. The water was glasslike, calm and serene. Happily, we started busting out the snacks and drinks (funny, we didn't wind up with any margarita mix - they saved that for the client boats - and I believe between the six of us we drank one beer) and waiting for the lines to be put out. Then, the trolling!
For Six. and a Half. Hours.
Nothing. Nary a bite. For the first few hours we chatted, but honestly by the last few, no one had much left to say, unless it was to bitch about not catching anything. My menstrual cramps chose this month to be the worst they have been in AGES. And...there was no door on the head. Ugh. Turned out there was a curtain-thing to give some privacy to that forward part of the boat where the head was, but apparently the door had gotten ripped off somehow and not replaced. Here was a boat that didn't host women often, clearly. And of course there was no way I was dealing with my Red Army in those facilities at all, so the longer we were out the crampier and more disgusting I felt. I don't know why we didn't beg to go home earlier. I guess they had been contracted to keep us out 'til 1 p.m. so they bloody well did so. It was a lovely day for a boatride but by the end I was one cranky camper. Drove back to Columbia, used the bathroom there to my GREAT RELIEF, visited with msteleute for a bit, then hit the road for a few errands. I went to Target and picked up some necessary items (and only one that really wasn't necessary, which is pretty good for escaping from Target unscathed), then ran home and dropped off my rent check - due by COB that day and of course in my 3 a.m. haze that morning I hadn't remembered to drop it in the slot. That taken care of, I promptly took a nap. MsT had invited me over for a taco night that night, and I was bound and determined to go if I felt better. Sleep plus a shower plus clean bathroom facilities helped a lot, but this month my Communist cousin was apparently bound and determined to make me miserable. Still, I was much less miserable than I was on the boat, and I enjoy tacos. I enjoy the company of my friends even more! necrocannibal made delicious tacos, as he always does, and we had a fine dinner along with maudallan and hobokillah. We watched the new Doctor Who (damn two-parter!) and were eventually joined by bizarrojack. We hung out for a while, I didn't make it too late though. My nap had been rather restless what with all the daytime noises outside and the heat of the day, so I was still pretty tired. Went home and totally crashed out, until almost 10 the next morning.
Saturday was a beautiful day! Great weather this weekend really. I got up and alas, still had the cramps. Too much going on to let it ground me, though. I ran out to get new taillights and some cash for my Mom's birthday dinner that night. The guy at the Advance Auto Parts totally gave me the wrong bulbs, which I promptly ran in and got corrected, and voila, taillights! Then home to wrap Mom's gift and sign her card, and wrap tzel's gift and sign her card, since they share a birthday. I was a little late getting to TZ's for the party, but I couldn't stay very long anyway due to having to move on to the folks' for Mom's birthday stuff. I hope that the rest of the party went well! I got to my folks' in plenty of time and we met my brother and sister-in-law and older nephew (the younger one, who doesn't really appreciate fine cuisine yet - in the sense of eating nothing but pasta and cheese - was at a friend's house for the evening) at the Chart House in Annapolis. I'd never been there. It was delicious! And lovely inside. A bit pricey, but nice for a treat. (Hee, there were a bunch of kids there eating before their prom. Prom dresses have not greatly improved since my days, it would appear. And LORD, I *never* would have had the money for this sort of place for prom! If I'd gone to prom, which, I sure didn't.) I had the grouper encrusted with garlic and parmesan, on a bed of angel hair pasta with tomato-basil stuff. YUM. I also took and ate some of my brother's broccoli, since he'd filled up on salad. AND, miracle of miracles, he let me pay this year! I appreciate that they have more money than I do (a LOT more), but last year he didn't let me pay anything towards Mom's meal OR towards my own, and that was supposed to be part of my present to her and stuff, and it was weird and kind of made me uncomfortable. So this year I paid for my own meal plus donated towards Mom's. Yay!
We went back to their place, getting to visit Ridgely! There, we had cake and ice cream and gave out the presents. I gave Mom Mrs. Henderson Presents on DVD (the fullscreen version, because I am a caring daughter who remembered that my Mom and Dad hate "those black bars" even though I personally am an aspect-ratio snob). She is a big Dame Judi fan. Finally headed home, back to Mom and Dad's to pick up my car and then all the way home. I got in a little before 11, decided to put in a load of laundry and watch Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (which I've had from netflix for weeks now). Plan: success! Though I wish netflix would impose a mandatory washing-up of each DVD after X number of rentals. I have only gotten one disk from them that was so bad I had to send it back and get a new one, but I've had a number that needed me to wash them off with dishwashing soap before they would play properly. Anyway, an hour and a half later I was both thoroughly entertained and had clean clothes. No downside! I went to sleep happy.
And woke up with a cat in my face! Oz picked that morning to flop down on the pillow by my head and play with the blind-pulls. Argh. It was too cute and I lay there petting him a little while and fell back asleep, finally awaking for good a bit before 10 a.m. Up and fed the cats and myself, and missed a call from zarobi while I was showering. Called her back - she was already on her way to the Sheep and Wool festival, while I still had church and grocery-shopping to do. Went and did same, came home, and determined that no-one else was up for the Festival, including me, really. The Red Army was definitely letting up, the worst of its manuevers past, but I felt like the weekend had been rush-rush-rush so I stayed home. In fact I used the time to watch yet another netflix movie, The Zero Effect, which proved to be one of those why-on-earth-did-I-wait-this-long-to-see-this movies. Loved it! And I didn't have to wash it for it to play properly either. Finally I got myself and my stuff together and headed over to dharshai and booyeah's place for a cookout! It got kind of gray and chilly in the afternoon but it was still a fun gathering and good to see folks! I bailed in the middle of Brain Candy, which I adore, but it was getting later and I saw a chance to get to bed at a good hour on a Sunday. Was home a little before 9 p.m., and watched an episode of "Inside the Actor's Studio" with what was advertised as "The cast of Law & Order" which was actually just Dick Wolf, Chris Noth, and S. Epatha Merkeson. They were awesome, mind you, but with only three people it felt rushed in an hour. I wish they'd had a few more cast members there and had been able to do one of those two-hour specials. Ah well. Then, bed.
And here it is Monday. Hoo boy. Six weeks 'til the cruise! Only six weeks!
LOOK at my icon! Thank you mephisto21, from the bottom of my little heart, for my marvelous adorable piggy bank icon!
Important! If you love online music, my radio station (WTMD, the best radio station ever!) has finally started a Windows media streaming feed! Previously they were only available in RealMedia or podcast form. Give 'em a listen! It's still in beta but I've listened all morning with very little interruption. Fair warning: This week is their pledge drive, so for the full-on music experience you might want to wait 'til next week. Though if you have a few pennies to spare and want to toss some in their hat if you like what you hear, I'm sure they'd appreciate it!
And now, without further delay, the weekend that was:
I am such a creature of habit that I almost typed, "Oh, Friday night I was tired and ...." But NO! Friday was Fishing Trip Day! How could I forget? So of course the weekend sort of started on Thursday night, when I really was quite tired. Good thing, too, since I started the going-to-bed process around 8:30 or thereabouts. My coworker G. had given me a call and offered to give me a lift. We tried this last year and he overslept a lot, but he assured me he was setting two alarms this year. It's a good drive and gas costs a lot and we were on the same boat (meaning neither of us would be waiting for the other's boat when the time to leave came), so I agreed. We met up at 4 a.m. at the Columbia office (I got up at 3 a.m. and was only a minute or two late at most). A few others were meeting up there too and one pointed out that both my taillights were out. When the hell did that happen? With all the Howard Co. officers around where I live, I'm really shocked I got that far without getting pulled over and given a repair order. At any rate, we all got in our cars and we got to the dock right on time! There were only six people on our boat, which was a plus in two ways: (a) all people I liked! Yay! and (b) the sooner you catch a fish for each person on the boat (which is the limit on the license), the sooner you go back to the harbor and go home! Yes, hopes were high. I had my little cooler with a freezer pack (and a can of Caffeine Free Diet Coke for the trip home), my official shirt (complete with fish-wearing-sombrero logo!), my official hat from last year's trip, and SPF 50 sunblock. I was set. The weather was beautiful. We were pulling away from the dock by 5:25 a.m. The sunrise was simply lovely (I have pictures, but haven't gotten them off the camera yet, doh!). We puttered an hour south on the Bay. We picked our spot. The water was glasslike, calm and serene. Happily, we started busting out the snacks and drinks (funny, we didn't wind up with any margarita mix - they saved that for the client boats - and I believe between the six of us we drank one beer) and waiting for the lines to be put out. Then, the trolling!
For Six. and a Half. Hours.
Nothing. Nary a bite. For the first few hours we chatted, but honestly by the last few, no one had much left to say, unless it was to bitch about not catching anything. My menstrual cramps chose this month to be the worst they have been in AGES. And...there was no door on the head. Ugh. Turned out there was a curtain-thing to give some privacy to that forward part of the boat where the head was, but apparently the door had gotten ripped off somehow and not replaced. Here was a boat that didn't host women often, clearly. And of course there was no way I was dealing with my Red Army in those facilities at all, so the longer we were out the crampier and more disgusting I felt. I don't know why we didn't beg to go home earlier. I guess they had been contracted to keep us out 'til 1 p.m. so they bloody well did so. It was a lovely day for a boatride but by the end I was one cranky camper. Drove back to Columbia, used the bathroom there to my GREAT RELIEF, visited with msteleute for a bit, then hit the road for a few errands. I went to Target and picked up some necessary items (and only one that really wasn't necessary, which is pretty good for escaping from Target unscathed), then ran home and dropped off my rent check - due by COB that day and of course in my 3 a.m. haze that morning I hadn't remembered to drop it in the slot. That taken care of, I promptly took a nap. MsT had invited me over for a taco night that night, and I was bound and determined to go if I felt better. Sleep plus a shower plus clean bathroom facilities helped a lot, but this month my Communist cousin was apparently bound and determined to make me miserable. Still, I was much less miserable than I was on the boat, and I enjoy tacos. I enjoy the company of my friends even more! necrocannibal made delicious tacos, as he always does, and we had a fine dinner along with maudallan and hobokillah. We watched the new Doctor Who (damn two-parter!) and were eventually joined by bizarrojack. We hung out for a while, I didn't make it too late though. My nap had been rather restless what with all the daytime noises outside and the heat of the day, so I was still pretty tired. Went home and totally crashed out, until almost 10 the next morning.
Saturday was a beautiful day! Great weather this weekend really. I got up and alas, still had the cramps. Too much going on to let it ground me, though. I ran out to get new taillights and some cash for my Mom's birthday dinner that night. The guy at the Advance Auto Parts totally gave me the wrong bulbs, which I promptly ran in and got corrected, and voila, taillights! Then home to wrap Mom's gift and sign her card, and wrap tzel's gift and sign her card, since they share a birthday. I was a little late getting to TZ's for the party, but I couldn't stay very long anyway due to having to move on to the folks' for Mom's birthday stuff. I hope that the rest of the party went well! I got to my folks' in plenty of time and we met my brother and sister-in-law and older nephew (the younger one, who doesn't really appreciate fine cuisine yet - in the sense of eating nothing but pasta and cheese - was at a friend's house for the evening) at the Chart House in Annapolis. I'd never been there. It was delicious! And lovely inside. A bit pricey, but nice for a treat. (Hee, there were a bunch of kids there eating before their prom. Prom dresses have not greatly improved since my days, it would appear. And LORD, I *never* would have had the money for this sort of place for prom! If I'd gone to prom, which, I sure didn't.) I had the grouper encrusted with garlic and parmesan, on a bed of angel hair pasta with tomato-basil stuff. YUM. I also took and ate some of my brother's broccoli, since he'd filled up on salad. AND, miracle of miracles, he let me pay this year! I appreciate that they have more money than I do (a LOT more), but last year he didn't let me pay anything towards Mom's meal OR towards my own, and that was supposed to be part of my present to her and stuff, and it was weird and kind of made me uncomfortable. So this year I paid for my own meal plus donated towards Mom's. Yay!
We went back to their place, getting to visit Ridgely! There, we had cake and ice cream and gave out the presents. I gave Mom Mrs. Henderson Presents on DVD (the fullscreen version, because I am a caring daughter who remembered that my Mom and Dad hate "those black bars" even though I personally am an aspect-ratio snob). She is a big Dame Judi fan. Finally headed home, back to Mom and Dad's to pick up my car and then all the way home. I got in a little before 11, decided to put in a load of laundry and watch Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (which I've had from netflix for weeks now). Plan: success! Though I wish netflix would impose a mandatory washing-up of each DVD after X number of rentals. I have only gotten one disk from them that was so bad I had to send it back and get a new one, but I've had a number that needed me to wash them off with dishwashing soap before they would play properly. Anyway, an hour and a half later I was both thoroughly entertained and had clean clothes. No downside! I went to sleep happy.
And woke up with a cat in my face! Oz picked that morning to flop down on the pillow by my head and play with the blind-pulls. Argh. It was too cute and I lay there petting him a little while and fell back asleep, finally awaking for good a bit before 10 a.m. Up and fed the cats and myself, and missed a call from zarobi while I was showering. Called her back - she was already on her way to the Sheep and Wool festival, while I still had church and grocery-shopping to do. Went and did same, came home, and determined that no-one else was up for the Festival, including me, really. The Red Army was definitely letting up, the worst of its manuevers past, but I felt like the weekend had been rush-rush-rush so I stayed home. In fact I used the time to watch yet another netflix movie, The Zero Effect, which proved to be one of those why-on-earth-did-I-wait-this-long-to-see-this movies. Loved it! And I didn't have to wash it for it to play properly either. Finally I got myself and my stuff together and headed over to dharshai and booyeah's place for a cookout! It got kind of gray and chilly in the afternoon but it was still a fun gathering and good to see folks! I bailed in the middle of Brain Candy, which I adore, but it was getting later and I saw a chance to get to bed at a good hour on a Sunday. Was home a little before 9 p.m., and watched an episode of "Inside the Actor's Studio" with what was advertised as "The cast of Law & Order" which was actually just Dick Wolf, Chris Noth, and S. Epatha Merkeson. They were awesome, mind you, but with only three people it felt rushed in an hour. I wish they'd had a few more cast members there and had been able to do one of those two-hour specials. Ah well. Then, bed.
And here it is Monday. Hoo boy. Six weeks 'til the cruise! Only six weeks!