You aren't attached to this car, are you?
Far from it, though I'd have preferred not to have heard B, from the auto shop, say that when I returned his call regarding the status of my automobile. It seems that I do have a couple of coolant leaks, one of which would be in the neighborhood of $2500 to fix. His recommendation: keep driving the car, but for around town trips only. Check the fluid level regularly and fill it up if it is low. I may get a couple more years out of the vehicle... or not. Only time will tell.
Have I ever mentioned how much I really enjoy not having a car payment? *sigh*
I love my wireless access! For so long I never saw any use in moving my computer outside the house, where no network drops are available. However, since getting wireless access up and running, I find that it's useful to take my laptop upstairs and surf in bed, or from the comfy chair by a nice fire, or from outside on a nice day like today.
I do feel a bit silly, though. It's nice and sunny, so I'm sitting out on the deck as I write this. However, it's still cold (AZ standards - about 65 according to the thermometer on the garage) so I have a throw blanket draped over my shoulders. I'm feeling guilty for not wearing sunscreen. Am I really doomed to have skin cancer whether I wear suncscreen or not?
I've had a lovely long weekend. Thanks to the benefits that are (apparently) helping to bankrupt the domestic automakers, I had both Friday and today off work. I couldn't have asked for better time for the days off. Last week and this week were/are in between my pottery classes. Had I had class this week or last, I would have had to use up some of my now precious vacation time in order to be able to go to the Thursday class.
I actually can't remember the specifics of what I did most of the weekend. Spent lots of time throughout with B. (not from the auto shop ~_^) Friday night, I made dinner (vegetable curry) since Jason, Louise, and their littles came over for dinner.
Saturday morning, I recall getting up early to finish studying for my Japanese quiz. I made biscuits and eggs (recipe courtesy of Andrew) for breakfast. I think my biscuits have improved greatly. All the credit goes to Alyssa, who told me about rolling the dough, buttering it, folding it all back up and repeating a few times before I actually cut the biscuits.
I think I did all right on the quiz, but I found myself completely puzzled as to what two of the particles might be. I decided my best shot was just to put in something that sounded ok, and not give any thought to trying to figure out what the sentence actually meant. I'll find out next week how well that strategy worked.
After class was over, B & I headed out to Ann Arbor to walk around for a while. I stopped in at my now usual places - Border's, Wizzywig, Pinball Pete's, and Bubble Island. I couldn't remember how to get to Fleetwood's, so that was a no go. It was time to go, so there was no walk out to Zingerman's for food porn goodness. I enjoyed walking around all the same.
Saturday night, I grilled vegetables & lamb chops. The latter where a sukoshi overdone. I anticipate I'll have plenty of grilling ahead of me in the coming months, so I'm sure to have time to improve.
Sunday was the usual DDR, except there was a bonus in the form of a visit from wisp001. What fun! (As always!) Though I don't recall passing anything new, or getting any spectacular scores, I did seem to do better overall. So much for my feeling that I'd reached a plateau. Afterward, we had Indian food for lunch. I was even the beneficiary of two delicious lemon cookies. ^_^
Then it was home to try to make some phone calls to stay in touch with people elsewhere. For the second week in a row, Mom sounded upbeat. She's had a second chemo treatment, but still no side effects. She was even able to make some jokes about the it all. One thing she mentioned was seeing humor in having told her hair stylist that she'd be having surgery and going through chemo. Her stylist told her that she'd see her when her hair grew back. Of course, her hair has decided not to fall out, at least not yet. So Mom has to make an appointment to go in to get it cut. I'm glad that she still seems to be doing well.
Does Pandorra have a preferences for female vocalists? I'd really like it to play random songs from the varieties I've selected. I just created a station by naming three artists - They Might Be Giants, Jem, and Kraftwerk. I've now had three songs in a row that sound like Jem, one actually hers. It seems that whenever I include her, the station ends up being mostly like her, with some sub-sections of the others.
Now it sounds like something similar to TMBG is coming on. Perhaps I need to collect more data. All the same, what do I need to do to make it more random? I'd rather that it cycle through the each of the types of songs, rather than play multiple songs in a row similar to one of the artists I've added to the station.
Hmmm... Another TMBG song.
Functioning car or not, I'm still planning to take some weekend trips this summer. First up may be my trip to Virginia at the end of May. Confirmed just yesterday: I'll be off to visit finian-mchens and mdhensley over Memorial day weekend.
I still want to go with Julie to one of her horse shows, if she'll have me. I don't recall when those are, but I suppose it wouldn't kill me to go back and check the dates she posted, or just ask her which would be most convenient when I see her next.
Other possibilities: Akron, first to see Andrew & Alyssa, assuming they haven't moved, or more likely, to help them move. Another trip to visit my out-laws. I'd also like to go out to Chicago for a weekend to visit my sister, but I've been playing phone tag with her and haven't been able to find out what might be good for her. Bowling Green, to provide a relief from summer studies for wisp001 should he so desire.
That's not to say that I'm willing to miss seeing those who are in town. I'm hoping that I'll be able to synch schedules with David & Sasha, and Erika. I've managed to get dinner plans in place with Joe and Ginny in a week, tool. And, now that the weather is nice, there will be many walks with Ding.
Life is still good. The present, especially so.
Have I ever mentioned how much I really enjoy not having a car payment? *sigh*
I love my wireless access! For so long I never saw any use in moving my computer outside the house, where no network drops are available. However, since getting wireless access up and running, I find that it's useful to take my laptop upstairs and surf in bed, or from the comfy chair by a nice fire, or from outside on a nice day like today.
I do feel a bit silly, though. It's nice and sunny, so I'm sitting out on the deck as I write this. However, it's still cold (AZ standards - about 65 according to the thermometer on the garage) so I have a throw blanket draped over my shoulders. I'm feeling guilty for not wearing sunscreen. Am I really doomed to have skin cancer whether I wear suncscreen or not?
I've had a lovely long weekend. Thanks to the benefits that are (apparently) helping to bankrupt the domestic automakers, I had both Friday and today off work. I couldn't have asked for better time for the days off. Last week and this week were/are in between my pottery classes. Had I had class this week or last, I would have had to use up some of my now precious vacation time in order to be able to go to the Thursday class.
I actually can't remember the specifics of what I did most of the weekend. Spent lots of time throughout with B. (not from the auto shop ~_^) Friday night, I made dinner (vegetable curry) since Jason, Louise, and their littles came over for dinner.
Saturday morning, I recall getting up early to finish studying for my Japanese quiz. I made biscuits and eggs (recipe courtesy of Andrew) for breakfast. I think my biscuits have improved greatly. All the credit goes to Alyssa, who told me about rolling the dough, buttering it, folding it all back up and repeating a few times before I actually cut the biscuits.
I think I did all right on the quiz, but I found myself completely puzzled as to what two of the particles might be. I decided my best shot was just to put in something that sounded ok, and not give any thought to trying to figure out what the sentence actually meant. I'll find out next week how well that strategy worked.
After class was over, B & I headed out to Ann Arbor to walk around for a while. I stopped in at my now usual places - Border's, Wizzywig, Pinball Pete's, and Bubble Island. I couldn't remember how to get to Fleetwood's, so that was a no go. It was time to go, so there was no walk out to Zingerman's for food porn goodness. I enjoyed walking around all the same.
Saturday night, I grilled vegetables & lamb chops. The latter where a sukoshi overdone. I anticipate I'll have plenty of grilling ahead of me in the coming months, so I'm sure to have time to improve.
Sunday was the usual DDR, except there was a bonus in the form of a visit from wisp001. What fun! (As always!) Though I don't recall passing anything new, or getting any spectacular scores, I did seem to do better overall. So much for my feeling that I'd reached a plateau. Afterward, we had Indian food for lunch. I was even the beneficiary of two delicious lemon cookies. ^_^
Then it was home to try to make some phone calls to stay in touch with people elsewhere. For the second week in a row, Mom sounded upbeat. She's had a second chemo treatment, but still no side effects. She was even able to make some jokes about the it all. One thing she mentioned was seeing humor in having told her hair stylist that she'd be having surgery and going through chemo. Her stylist told her that she'd see her when her hair grew back. Of course, her hair has decided not to fall out, at least not yet. So Mom has to make an appointment to go in to get it cut. I'm glad that she still seems to be doing well.
Does Pandorra have a preferences for female vocalists? I'd really like it to play random songs from the varieties I've selected. I just created a station by naming three artists - They Might Be Giants, Jem, and Kraftwerk. I've now had three songs in a row that sound like Jem, one actually hers. It seems that whenever I include her, the station ends up being mostly like her, with some sub-sections of the others.
Now it sounds like something similar to TMBG is coming on. Perhaps I need to collect more data. All the same, what do I need to do to make it more random? I'd rather that it cycle through the each of the types of songs, rather than play multiple songs in a row similar to one of the artists I've added to the station.
Hmmm... Another TMBG song.
Functioning car or not, I'm still planning to take some weekend trips this summer. First up may be my trip to Virginia at the end of May. Confirmed just yesterday: I'll be off to visit finian-mchens and mdhensley over Memorial day weekend.
I still want to go with Julie to one of her horse shows, if she'll have me. I don't recall when those are, but I suppose it wouldn't kill me to go back and check the dates she posted, or just ask her which would be most convenient when I see her next.
Other possibilities: Akron, first to see Andrew & Alyssa, assuming they haven't moved, or more likely, to help them move. Another trip to visit my out-laws. I'd also like to go out to Chicago for a weekend to visit my sister, but I've been playing phone tag with her and haven't been able to find out what might be good for her. Bowling Green, to provide a relief from summer studies for wisp001 should he so desire.
That's not to say that I'm willing to miss seeing those who are in town. I'm hoping that I'll be able to synch schedules with David & Sasha, and Erika. I've managed to get dinner plans in place with Joe and Ginny in a week, tool. And, now that the weather is nice, there will be many walks with Ding.
Life is still good. The present, especially so.