Food, Phun, and Phishing...
So as of this morning I've decided I will never again buy store bought marshmallows. My wife and I made a double batch of one of the millions of simple recipes found on the Internets. I powdered them this morning and tasted one and OMG! Awesome! Going to attempt to cover the one batch with chocolate. (If I can properly temper a bunch of semisweet chips today that is.)
My neighbor was kind enough to give me a spare regulator for my grill and I replaced the burners on it so now able to grill stuff again after years of nor having one. YAY! Grilled some corn on the cob yesterday that was WONDERFUL! Also some baked potatoes that my wife didn't get any of.
Going to start using that grill like there's no tomorrow as long as I can afford vegetables. I love grilled vegetables.
Speaking of vegetables - not growing any right now. :-( The garden once again didn't get started. As late as this growing season has been though it's not too late to at least get some pots started as with the shift in the season it'll likely stay warm well into September.
Going to likely just shore up the A/C unit in the workshop window then foam it in permanently. Not happy with how it's mounted but really don't want to take it out. And summer's not done yet. Aaaannnd....
I'm working from home more often now. I'm officially working from home two days a week which is wonderful. Not having to commute even the 15 minutes to work is a blessing because it gives me more time to do things. And I can always do things like start a load of clothes when I go into the house to use the bathroom and such.
On that note I will be working from home at least half days once my daughter starts school as our in-laws are moving soon and we need to adjust so she can just be bused here rather than to their house. That will be really cool because it means her routine no longer includes my wife using tons of gas to go pick her up one town away.
Currently writing again. It's fan fiction but I see no sin in that. It's also MLP:FIM fan fiction but again - no problem. :-)
If you're a fan and want to read them so far they are here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/user/RandomGreymane
At least it's got me writing again. I"m still embarrassed that I haven't followed up on the stories I've written here or on Torn World. I keep meaning to get back to them but I just don't. But writing again is important and I'll take it any way I can get it.
Speaking of taking it....anybody want to take up a collection to start hunting down and killing spammers/black-hats? The Ubuntu forums got hacked the other day and while I've changed my passwords and such I'm now getting a ton of phishing emails about all sorts of subjects. One of them looked so good that had I not been in the I/T industry I might have missed the clues. And I had to recently change the password on my daughter's iTunes account because I got password reset prompts from Apple's servers so someone was trying to crack that account. *grumble* Fortunately that account isn't attached to a credit card nor used for anything. All my daughter's iTunes stuff is on my wife's account.
Speaking of Apple stuff I got the Apple TV working again. Borrowed and returned the remote from work so I could turn on home sharing on it and use my old iPhone as a remote. It's working like a charm and I watched Serenity on Netflix yesterday as well as the one and only Doctor Who I purchased on iTunes - The Doctor's Wife. I also watched one of the Top Gear specials I purchased years ago. Waiting for all those to download is painful. Unfortunately to upgrade my Internet requires around $300 for installation costs for a Comcast Business Class connection which is what I need.
Finances are a mixed bag. As usual we seem to always be hit by something that puts us behind once we catch up. This week it's likely to be the broken molar in my head that just started to kick up a fuss on Friday. There's not much of it left on the surface but it was a root-canal'd tooth from years ago so there was no pain as it fell apart. Until Friday that is. It's down to an intermittent dull ache but I called the dentist on Friday for a referral to the oral surgeon. We have dental insurance but oral surgeons in my experience always ask for money up front. Pain in the ass as well as the tooth.
And I'm not borrowing that money from anyone. No. I already owe a number of debts and people have bailed me out every so often. I have to stop doing that. Best I can do is find something I can do for these people in return so it's a fair trade.
One side-effect of working from home is that I spend more time in the workshop. Recently I started cleaning up a lot of it. With a wireless earpiece (using my cellphone currently) I can get up and move about and get some things in order. I've already organized the main computer workspace a lot and used shower curtains and conduit to put a starter airflow barrier between the two sides of the workshop out there but there's still so much to do. In particular I have a bunch of things to ship out to friends that I have to get moving on. I just never seem to be able to allocate the money.
And then there's my neighbor's computer that isn't done yet. I'm trying to see if we're converting another client at the bank so I can get him another system that is better than what he's got but so far no movement there. I think his drive is going frankly. Have to see if I have something to replace that at least...
On top of all this the yard looks like ass. I have weeds growing everywhere in back and I have a bunch of real estate sign posts that I am intending to hang planters from but just not getting anywhere with. The good news is that my established raspberries seem to be coming back after the neighbor cut them down when clearing my jungle the last time for me. Still they haven't borne fruit yet and likely won't until they get back up to snuff. A lot of crap to get done back there. Considering covering that whole space behind the garage with astroturf to kill everything then put planters on it. Or black plastic garbage bags then wood chips. That second one depends on getting the truck done or taking the seats out of the minivan and using that. May consider that as I think I have enough landscape fabric to do that this weekend. Everything is so expensive though. (rant rant rant) Also considering a trellis on the house side of the workshop. What is going on there is that I store some of the firewood there and the morning glories are growing over it. Thinking of taking the old garden fence (metal lattice) and stringing it up the side at an angle so that it makes a living wall that helps keep the building cool and the firewood dry. Have to think about that one though.
As for the truck I still need to repair the brakes on it and swap out the timing chain and water pump. My father has been kind enough to pay my renewal for license plates on that thing as they are several months out of date at this point. Still worth it though as Sam is a strong truck and I need her to haul the boat once I get the title done on that as well. (That one is another $200 most likely because I have to swap the boat and the trailer.)
Reviews at work are in September of this year so we'll see if I get something worthwhile. For good or ill I've thrown in with this company and hopefully that will lead me to an upper level management position eventually. We're growing by leaps and bounds and I'm moving in the direction of dispatching rather than the tons of technical support work I've been doing. I can do either but the one leaves me with the will to enjoy my computers at home so I'd rather head that direction. (Granted all this is part of the "always connected" job that comes with being in the I/T industry.) I'm fervently hoping that an increase in pay is enough to either not put us in a new tax bracket and thus end us up with less money OR is enough money to make the take-home pay increase by a decent amount. We'll have to wait and see on that one.
Going to try and get my butt up to my friend's house today with my motorcycle wheel and tire if he's available. If I can get that changed out I can be riding the bike again. Everything is paid up on it and it runs just has a flat front tire which I have the replacement for already. Need to do some cleanup on her such as tank paint and especially the seat material. I have the new material I just have to put it on there. Still thinking of a dark colored tank with glowing blue lines at night. ;-) For some reason the aesthetics of the Atlantean vehicles in Disney's first animated Atlantis movie struck a chord with me. I like that kind of stone plus glowing lines so we'll see what we can do there.
Speaking of chords....I seem to be enjoying more repetitive bass lately. Blame dubstep and house music from the pony fandom. And it's weird because a lot of those songs are cut with music clips from the older music I listened to growing up so there's some sort of connection there. And strangely I kind of like it when the mirrors on the car vibrate. ^_^
Geeze. I've rambled on this thing for a full hour today. Got to get moving as there's a ton of things to do around here. Chief today though is kitchen cleanup after the Marshmallow Making of 2014 and getting my bike tire done if my friend is available.
Later peeps! (Mmmmm....peeps....*jots down something else to try and make with marshmallows*)
Cross-posted from Dreamwidth ( http://nimitzbrood.dreamwidth.org/272819.html ) but feel free to comment here as well.
My neighbor was kind enough to give me a spare regulator for my grill and I replaced the burners on it so now able to grill stuff again after years of nor having one. YAY! Grilled some corn on the cob yesterday that was WONDERFUL! Also some baked potatoes that my wife didn't get any of.
Going to start using that grill like there's no tomorrow as long as I can afford vegetables. I love grilled vegetables.
Speaking of vegetables - not growing any right now. :-( The garden once again didn't get started. As late as this growing season has been though it's not too late to at least get some pots started as with the shift in the season it'll likely stay warm well into September.
Going to likely just shore up the A/C unit in the workshop window then foam it in permanently. Not happy with how it's mounted but really don't want to take it out. And summer's not done yet. Aaaannnd....
I'm working from home more often now. I'm officially working from home two days a week which is wonderful. Not having to commute even the 15 minutes to work is a blessing because it gives me more time to do things. And I can always do things like start a load of clothes when I go into the house to use the bathroom and such.
On that note I will be working from home at least half days once my daughter starts school as our in-laws are moving soon and we need to adjust so she can just be bused here rather than to their house. That will be really cool because it means her routine no longer includes my wife using tons of gas to go pick her up one town away.
Currently writing again. It's fan fiction but I see no sin in that. It's also MLP:FIM fan fiction but again - no problem. :-)
If you're a fan and want to read them so far they are here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/user/RandomGreymane
At least it's got me writing again. I"m still embarrassed that I haven't followed up on the stories I've written here or on Torn World. I keep meaning to get back to them but I just don't. But writing again is important and I'll take it any way I can get it.
Speaking of taking it....anybody want to take up a collection to start hunting down and killing spammers/black-hats? The Ubuntu forums got hacked the other day and while I've changed my passwords and such I'm now getting a ton of phishing emails about all sorts of subjects. One of them looked so good that had I not been in the I/T industry I might have missed the clues. And I had to recently change the password on my daughter's iTunes account because I got password reset prompts from Apple's servers so someone was trying to crack that account. *grumble* Fortunately that account isn't attached to a credit card nor used for anything. All my daughter's iTunes stuff is on my wife's account.
Speaking of Apple stuff I got the Apple TV working again. Borrowed and returned the remote from work so I could turn on home sharing on it and use my old iPhone as a remote. It's working like a charm and I watched Serenity on Netflix yesterday as well as the one and only Doctor Who I purchased on iTunes - The Doctor's Wife. I also watched one of the Top Gear specials I purchased years ago. Waiting for all those to download is painful. Unfortunately to upgrade my Internet requires around $300 for installation costs for a Comcast Business Class connection which is what I need.
Finances are a mixed bag. As usual we seem to always be hit by something that puts us behind once we catch up. This week it's likely to be the broken molar in my head that just started to kick up a fuss on Friday. There's not much of it left on the surface but it was a root-canal'd tooth from years ago so there was no pain as it fell apart. Until Friday that is. It's down to an intermittent dull ache but I called the dentist on Friday for a referral to the oral surgeon. We have dental insurance but oral surgeons in my experience always ask for money up front. Pain in the ass as well as the tooth.
And I'm not borrowing that money from anyone. No. I already owe a number of debts and people have bailed me out every so often. I have to stop doing that. Best I can do is find something I can do for these people in return so it's a fair trade.
One side-effect of working from home is that I spend more time in the workshop. Recently I started cleaning up a lot of it. With a wireless earpiece (using my cellphone currently) I can get up and move about and get some things in order. I've already organized the main computer workspace a lot and used shower curtains and conduit to put a starter airflow barrier between the two sides of the workshop out there but there's still so much to do. In particular I have a bunch of things to ship out to friends that I have to get moving on. I just never seem to be able to allocate the money.
And then there's my neighbor's computer that isn't done yet. I'm trying to see if we're converting another client at the bank so I can get him another system that is better than what he's got but so far no movement there. I think his drive is going frankly. Have to see if I have something to replace that at least...
On top of all this the yard looks like ass. I have weeds growing everywhere in back and I have a bunch of real estate sign posts that I am intending to hang planters from but just not getting anywhere with. The good news is that my established raspberries seem to be coming back after the neighbor cut them down when clearing my jungle the last time for me. Still they haven't borne fruit yet and likely won't until they get back up to snuff. A lot of crap to get done back there. Considering covering that whole space behind the garage with astroturf to kill everything then put planters on it. Or black plastic garbage bags then wood chips. That second one depends on getting the truck done or taking the seats out of the minivan and using that. May consider that as I think I have enough landscape fabric to do that this weekend. Everything is so expensive though. (rant rant rant) Also considering a trellis on the house side of the workshop. What is going on there is that I store some of the firewood there and the morning glories are growing over it. Thinking of taking the old garden fence (metal lattice) and stringing it up the side at an angle so that it makes a living wall that helps keep the building cool and the firewood dry. Have to think about that one though.
As for the truck I still need to repair the brakes on it and swap out the timing chain and water pump. My father has been kind enough to pay my renewal for license plates on that thing as they are several months out of date at this point. Still worth it though as Sam is a strong truck and I need her to haul the boat once I get the title done on that as well. (That one is another $200 most likely because I have to swap the boat and the trailer.)
Reviews at work are in September of this year so we'll see if I get something worthwhile. For good or ill I've thrown in with this company and hopefully that will lead me to an upper level management position eventually. We're growing by leaps and bounds and I'm moving in the direction of dispatching rather than the tons of technical support work I've been doing. I can do either but the one leaves me with the will to enjoy my computers at home so I'd rather head that direction. (Granted all this is part of the "always connected" job that comes with being in the I/T industry.) I'm fervently hoping that an increase in pay is enough to either not put us in a new tax bracket and thus end us up with less money OR is enough money to make the take-home pay increase by a decent amount. We'll have to wait and see on that one.
Going to try and get my butt up to my friend's house today with my motorcycle wheel and tire if he's available. If I can get that changed out I can be riding the bike again. Everything is paid up on it and it runs just has a flat front tire which I have the replacement for already. Need to do some cleanup on her such as tank paint and especially the seat material. I have the new material I just have to put it on there. Still thinking of a dark colored tank with glowing blue lines at night. ;-) For some reason the aesthetics of the Atlantean vehicles in Disney's first animated Atlantis movie struck a chord with me. I like that kind of stone plus glowing lines so we'll see what we can do there.
Speaking of chords....I seem to be enjoying more repetitive bass lately. Blame dubstep and house music from the pony fandom. And it's weird because a lot of those songs are cut with music clips from the older music I listened to growing up so there's some sort of connection there. And strangely I kind of like it when the mirrors on the car vibrate. ^_^
Geeze. I've rambled on this thing for a full hour today. Got to get moving as there's a ton of things to do around here. Chief today though is kitchen cleanup after the Marshmallow Making of 2014 and getting my bike tire done if my friend is available.
Later peeps! (Mmmmm....peeps....*jots down something else to try and make with marshmallows*)
Cross-posted from Dreamwidth ( http://nimitzbrood.dreamwidth.org/272819.html ) but feel free to comment here as well.