Thursday, February 23, 2006

Is there a secret camera watching my house?

This could have come from my fingers.

Awesome!

So yesterday I went to the website for Virginia where you can sign up to start a business and your tax thing and all that. I filled out all of the stuff and then clicked on the button to finalize it. The website kicked back to a prior page, so I fixed what they thought was broken and it looped back to the same spot. I repeated that three times before I gave up. Ridiculous. Oh and one of the links the site offered for downloading a tax form that I’ll need was broken. Actually a lot of the links were broken.

In the meantime, I checked out a bunch of books on wedding planning from the library. One of them is about consulting by a guy who runs a consulting ring (for lack of a better term - it’s actually an association and I’m just feeling snarky today) and offers training and entry into the ring association. So I checked out the ring association website this morning to find that the training for beginner wedding consulting is a hefty $1K. Is it worth it? Probably, but I don’t have that capital, thanks. According to that dude, I’m a wedding dabbler. I can live with that.

Which leads me to thinking that I really am going to have to consider a small business loan or try to hunt up a small business grant. I’m don’t really have the seed money to front a start-up business at this point.

It’s been a bad day from the moment I got in my car. Frustration after frustration have come my way and I’m really cranky at this point.

Is it Friday yet?

*sigh*

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

We got word on Sunday night that my 86 year old grandfather (my mother’s father) was put into the hospital down in Florida (where he and his wife are visiting her family) on Saturday and that it looked like he had had a minor heart attack. The docs were going to do some tests on Monday morning and then probably do a check to see if he needed bypass surgery. They opted not to proceed yesterday but to wait until today. I got an email update from my mother earlier and it’s easier to post that than try to paraphrase:

… the doctor found that Dad has an aneurysm that is quite large and has been there a while. Also, he has a totally blocked artery and another 95% blocked.  He won’t recommend surgery because of Dad’s age and they will treat with medication.  The doctor is also concerned about his kidney function and that is why they delayed the procedure because of the effect the dye would have on the kidneys.  He will also continue to treat that with medication.  So, for now, Dad is doing okay and will probably be released on Friday.  They will stay in Florida until he is well enough to make the flight home.

He has always been very healthy and has longevity on his side. His mother lived to 101. Please pray for healing for him and peace for his wife. She is a sweet lady who has taken us into her heart as if we were her own flesh and blood.

It all started when I picked up the blow dryer. I pushed the power button and nothing happened. So I pushed the TEST button on the plug and retried the power. No go. *sigh*

Fortunately, I have a travel dryer so I got that and still got no power.

OK, I’ll try Beau’s bathroom. No power there either.

Blown fuse maybe? So I trekked to the basement to check the circuit box and sure enough the one marked “Heat Pump” was red. I reset that, the heat immediately cycled on (I wonder when that tripped?), and I headed back upstairs to my bathroom.

Neither blow dryer works in either bathroom. *argh*

There’s an outlet next to his bathroom and we have huge mirrored closet doors, so I plugged the dryer into that plug. Yahoo, it worked.

Then I open the blinds to find that it’s snowing like crazy. This, of course, affected the commute, because despite temps above freezing people around here see the white stuff falling from the sky and panic.

At least I got here by 9am.

Anyone have a clue why those two bathroom outlets won’t work?

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Beau has a sub gig today and tomorrow. Same school as for the gym class last week. This time he’s teaching math.

He was slightly unimpressed with the lesson plan for one of the days.

Those poor kids.

New category alert: Beau Knows because he’s wicked smaht.

Beau still insists that Numb3rs is a better show than 24. I think he’s cra-zee.

Clicky linky for my 2 cents on last night’s ep…

Monday, February 20, 2006

Jaynee summed up the weekend pretty well here.

Mom & Dad and Beau and I went into The City before our matinee show. We had tea at Tea & Synpathy in Greenwich Village and then went back to Times Square, walked over to Radio City Music Hall, Rockerfeller Center, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was bitterly cold so we got to the theater a little early and went right in for the show. (Jaynee’s review of Spamalot is here.) After the show we went back to The Cooties’ house for dinner and then I crashed and went to bed very early.

Our drive back home was the fastest ever - 4 hours even. Nice.

All in all a very fun weekend. My niece and nephew are way, way, way too cute.

I don’t have a category for theatre, but because Spamalot is based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I’ve listed it under Movies Schmoovies.

Silly. Hilarious. Offensive. Brilliant. Weird. Classic.

This is a PG-13 show, so do not plan on taking the younger kiddies to see this show. Lots of use of Jesus’ name as an epithet. Lots of things to offend just about everyone. Pure silliness, which is vintage Python. Brilliant actors/singers - David Hyde Pierce and Hank Azaria were awesome. Simon Russell Beale was fantastic as King Arthur (he took over the role from Tim Curry).

Azaria is a quick improvisor and managed to break up his castmates a couple of times with timely snark. He made a Cheney joke that had the whole audience cracking up. I didn’t laugh out loud, but I appreciate the quick wit.

Anyway, a clever show and if you’re a Monty Python fan then you will not be disappointed. There are the Knights of Ni, rabbits, French people, and cows.

Thanks to The Cooties for a fun weekend and a fun and memorable wedding gift!

Friday, February 17, 2006

We’re headed to the Cooties’ house and the Big Apple this weekend to cash in a wedding present.

I can’t wait!

UPDATED 2/17: We’re getting ready to head out. We’ll drop Annie at the kennel and then meet up with my parents at their house.

It should be a fun weekend with the Cooties. Can’t wait to get there…

Little to no blogging until Monday. Have a great weekend!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

The Day is coming.

[Via Ith, of course]

In the midst of the whole Cheney hunting brouhaha something has been sorely missed - compassion for a man who accidentally shot his friend. I don’t care what position he holds as his job, no matter what people may think of him politically, people should express a little sympathy for VP Cheney. What’s shameful is that from the minute the White House press corps heard of the accident they treated this story as if it was the biggest scandal to hit Washington since Watergate.

The whole thing is completely ridiculous.

I was almost to the courthouse when Beau called me - he’s got his first substitute teaching gig today. He will be teaching gym at a middle school. Hilarious.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

The dangers of Gmail’s new chat feature are plenty. I’m wondering how long it will take Big Brother to remove access from Gmail altogether as a result.

That said, I had a lovely conversation with Beau during lunch.

Beau went through the final step with the county to register as a substitute teacher. He could be called to work as early as tomorrow. Little do the high school students in Fairfax County know what’s about to hit them - a PhD with expertise in Science and Government. Be afraid, kiddies, be very afraid.

In other job news, Beau submitted his resume to Patrick Henry College for one of the Government teaching positions they have open. We’re hoping he will be the one they select for the job that will start in the fall. Interestingly, they have a position opening for the Dean of Women and my weird job and volunteer background sort of fits. Not that I’m looking for a new job; I like the one I have, thank you. And I doubt that they could match my current pay and benefits.