Thursday, August 18, 2005

I have added two new blogs to the rolls:

Family Grandstand - the family blog of some dear friends (to be found in the Regular roll).

Life’s a Symphony - the personal blog of the mother of the family mentioned above (to be found in the Must Reads roll).

For you readers in Texas, they reside in your home state.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

I just discovered that CBS.com has the info up for TAR8 - premieres on September 27. Woo!

There’s a huge photo of the families and I’m greatly encouraged that there are only two families with young children of the ten total teams. All other teams are all adults or have older kids. This means that once the teams with the young kids are knocked out (early, I predict), then The Race will be more like normal except the teams are double in size.

What’ll be interesting to see is how they navigate airports - buying tickets always included the camera guy and producer for each team too. That these people will be doubled will make this a bigger part of the game.

And now I’m sort of officially excited about the coming season.

Remember the prisoner’s mother who called the other day and made me repeat myself more than a dozen times? Yeah, she called back. How do I know? Two things: her phone number on the caller ID and her voice/accent.

She started to tell me her problem and I cut her off - “You need to call your son’s lawyer. We do not give out any information.”

HER: But…

ME: No buts. We do not give out any information. Call his lawyer.

She then complained that she had a bad number for the lawyer.

ME: Call the Clerk’s office, they can give it to you.

HER: You don’t have the lawyer’s number?

*At this point, I have little to no patience.*

ME: Ma’am, no. Call the Clerk and then call the lawyer.

HER: But…

ME: Ma’am. I can’t help you. I told you all of this the other day when you called.

*silence*

HER: That was you?

ME: Yes. Call your son’s lawyer.

HER: OK, thank you.

If she calls again all bets are off on my patience. I do not like having to repeat myself ad nauseum and I won’t do it today.

Interesting developments in last night’s episode, some of which I sort of expected from comments from Kimberly.

More follows in the extended section. ----->

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

So the Blogathon folks are offering awards to bloggers who participated in a few categories. Turns out my sister’s blog, Cootiehog, is a nominee for Most Enthusiastic. Only Blogathon participants are eligible to vote, unfortunately. But if you did the ‘thon, then head on over and read how to vote for Cootiehog!

I got an email from a reader who said my RSS feed hasn’t been updating since January. For those of you who read this blog via RSS, is this true?

Any suggestions for how I need to fix this?

I have no clue how this module works and reading the user guide stumped me completely.

A lot has been made of Cindy Sheehan’s protesting in front of President Bush’s ranch in Texas. That she is a grieving mother is not in dispute. That she is against the war that her son died in is not in dispute. I think she’s being exploited by the leftist organizations who protest with her. I think it’s all very sad and I’m sorry for her loss - no mother should lose a child in war. I am grateful for her son’s service and ultimate sacrifice.

However, I quibble with the idea that “she gave up her son” in the war. This was the phrase used by Ellis Hennican on Fox & Friends this morning. Cindy Sheehan did not give up her son in Iraq. Casey Sheehan was 24 years old when he died - he was an adult who chose to serve in the military. He was not drafted. He was not forced to join the military. He chose to serve in the military. He knew what he was fighting for, the risks of war, and served valiantly. He gave up his life in the war to liberate Iraq.

It’s a shame that this mother is exploiting her son’s death for her own political agenda.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Just got off the phone with a prisoner’s mother. She is not a native English speaker, but she did well enough trying to communicate that she wants to know where her son was moved. Unfortunately for her, I can’t tell her where her son is per our district policy so I referred her to her son’s lawyer. And then I had to repeat it a few dozen times. And there ensued the following:

HER: I try calling the lawyer and he never answers the phone.

ME: I’m sorry. I know that’s frustrating, but I can’t give you the information - you have to get it from your son’s lawyer.

HER: The lawyer?

ME: Yes.

HER: You don’t know where my son is?

ME: Oh, I know where your son is, but I am not permitted to tell you. You have to get that from his lawyer.

HER: His lawyer?

*I’m losing patience and trying not to convey that to her because I’m trying to do better on my customer service skillz. Man, is that hard!*

ME: Ma’am, you need to call your son’s lawyer. He will tell you where your son is now.

HER: His lawyer? You can’t tell me?

ME: No, I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.

*At this point there was a longer silence that I let go, hoping she would give up...*

HER: I need to know where my son is.

ME: I understand. Call his lawyer, we only give that information to the lawyers.

HER: The lawyer. *pause* OK.

*more silence*

HER: You’re sure you can’t tell me?

ME: Nope.

HER: OK. *pause* Good-bye.

ME: Good-bye.

That was a shortened version of the entire conversation. Add a few more instances of “His lawyer?” followed by my repeating of “Yes, his lawyer” to the exchange.

Good grief.

Alton Brown has a blog.

This just makes him even cooler.

For Beau - take note, sweetie:

Is it Celtic with a “k” or Celtic with an “s”?
In English, most scholars in the field prefer the “k” variant (i.e. “Keltic"), partly because “Celtic” comes from Greek keltoi (keltoi) and also because “c” is always /k/ in Irish, Welsh and Gaelic. It is true that a number of sports teams are now the “Seltics”, and scholars agree that this is proper. I don’t think any scholar is inclined to change the mind of a die-hard sports fan. :)

Via my fellow Scottish lass, Ith

Item 1: I stopped at a local Post Office on my way into the office this morning, to mail the tea to my Blogathon sponsors. I got there at about 8:10am and immediately noted that the door said they open at 8:30. *sigh* I wasn’t happy about waiting that long, but figured I’d go in anyway and to my happy surprise, I discovered they have Automated Postal Service machines. (I looked for a link to show you the machine, but the USPS website doesn’t have any information that I can find.) Anyway, I placed the first box on the scale, went through the process as requested by the machine, a label printed, and I put the box in the bin for outgoing mail. The whole process for the 6 boxes I mailed was maybe 10 minutes. Very convenient! I’m quite impressed.

Item 2: My mother called to remind me that we forgot that Annie needs to be put in the kennel this weekend when we head to the Cooties. So I called the kennel we usually use and they were not able to take her. I tried a couple of others with the same negative answer. Starting to panic, I sent a quick email to Jaynee to give her the heads up about Annie and then did a search for other kennels further from home. I saw one listed for a little rural town along the route we take north and so I called them. Success - they can take Annie and the bonus is they’re half the price of the kennels around here. We’ll have a little zig off the road to drop her off and I’ll have to take Monday morning off to go pick her up, but that’s better than hauling her in the car with us four adults and a lot of stuff that we’re taking up to the Cooties.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

So my blog was inaccessible for most of Saturday. And then I was too busy to post. Wah! Here’s a quick recap:

1. I asked a fellow blogger who has an amazing talent for really creative blog skins if she would be interested in redesigning my blog. She is so quick that she sent me a sample already and I love it. I will reveal the blogger and the new design when it’s ready. And I will be happy to promote her new business - this will be well worth the fee I’ll be paying.

2. The engagement part last night was a lot of fun and the family all seemed to really like Beau. He fit in well with everyone, but I expected that. He’s such a great guy. Somehow I didn’t think that we’d get gifts at the engagement party, but pretty much everyone showed up with something. A small dent was made in our registry. So I think it’s time to start working on thank you notes - I don’t want to get too far behind on those.

3. Church this morning was great. I was super tired though, so being there at 8am and for both services was a little hard. I shouldn’t complain since Jaynee and Eric both went to church immediately after the Blogathon last weekend. Mom and Dad and Beau came for the second service and then we went for lunch before Mom and I met with the potential florist. Beau headed back to H’burg after lunch.

4. Our meeting with the florist and her business partner was very good. Just talking about flowers with someone helped ease my mind a bit. They asked a lot of good questions, took a good look at the church, and presented some creative ideas for us to consider. So I’ll be interested to see what they propose on paper. As we were leaving the meeting, one of then handed me two sprigs of fresh lavender from her garden - nice touch - very thoughtful.

5. Got home and took a short nap. And then I started watching the recorded episodes of TAR3 - wow has the Race changed in the later years. Still loathe Flo. Love Ken and Gerard.

6. My DVR didn’t record last night’s BB6. I think it’s because it’s set up to record that and TAR, both of which are on at 9pm on Saturday nights. My mistake was in not turning off the cable box - it was set to a third channel and when I wasn’t there to tell it to make the needed channel switch to record BB6, it didn’t record. Bummer. So feel free to recap it in the comments or by email. Here’s what I really want to know:

a. what was in the boxes in the glass cage.
b. how the HOH competition played out.
c. Kaysar’s return - how did people explain what had happened in the last week and how did he he react to the info.
d. who was nominated for eviction and why?

7. At this point I’m waiting for The 4400 and then I’m going to bed. Hard to believe another week begins. *sigh*

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Sorry for the problems accessing the blog today. I noticed a problem early this morning, but I had to go out and didn’t take the time to research it. When I returned in the afternoon, it was still down so I initiated a help ticket with pMachine Hosting (excellent hosting, btw, and their technical support is first rate). Turns out my blog was under attack and the server automatically shut down for security.

Anyway...it’s been a busy day.

1. I slept later than normal this morning - 7:30. I think I’m still catching up from the Blogathon last weekend.

2. I managed to color my hair finally. It looks much better now.

3. Beau and I went out to run a couple errands - Target for CootieBoy‘s birthday gift and some needed stuff and then to ECD’s former house to pick up the last little things I had left behind. The bonus in the pile was a lovely wedding gift from Mare-Bear and her fiance. Thank you!

4. We arrived home and had some lunch and I watched BB6 from Thursday. Beau happened to be with me, but he wasn’t watching. Although my father came in at one point and said Beau was asking too many questions - a sure sign he was being sucked in and that it was only a matter of time before he was buying a plasma flat screen TV. Heh.

As for the episode - woo! And I can’t to see tonight’s ep to see how the HOH competition played out.

5. There followed some general clean up down here in the basement since we have company coming over in about an hour for the big family engagement party.

Let me say that it is too blessed hot today. Nearly 100 degrees and humid. We haven’t had a summer like this in years. Actually, a friend was telling us that he heard on the radio that we didn’t have a single day over 95 degrees last summer, but we’ve had 6 so far this summer and next week is supposed to continue this heat. UGH.

6. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that my Fire Ant Gazette coaster arrived today - beautifully signed by Eric! Thanks, friend.

7. We boxed up the tea for the Blogathon sponsors - they will be mailed on Monday. I apologize for the delay!

Friday, August 12, 2005

...what happened on BB6 last night. I’m avoiding news of it at all costs today. I got home late and then spent some time talking with my fiance and parents before going to bed last night. I plan to watch it later.

Practice was a little rough - I have a hard time doing much heavy thinking later in the evening. I am not a night person. So hearing the harmonies on a couple of the songs wasn’t happening. I told our worship leader that I’ll have them on Sunday morning when I’m fresher. He was confused when I explained that as a morning person I can function better earlier in the day and therefore hear the harmonies better.

Dinner was fun. We had a good talk about ministry - she is on staff with Athletes in Action, not Campus Crusade.

It’s quiet and boring in the office today. That makes for a lo-o-o-o-ong day.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

It seems that no matter what I do, my calendar fills up pretty quickly.

Tonight I have dinner with Beau and a gal whose ministry he supports financially. I think she’s on staff with Campus Crusade in the midwest, but I’m not sure because he supports a few people in different ministries.

Immediately after dinner I head to band practice at church. Our worship leader sent out the next quarter schedule for the worship team and I happened to be scheduled for this Sunday. To be honest, I never expected to be up there again this soon, so I’m gratified that I seem to have done well enough the first time that he wants me back.

Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow night, although Beau will be here. I’m sure we’ll find something to do.

Saturday is a day spent out with Beau - maybe clothes/ring shopping for him; I need to pick up the last bits from the old house. And the evening is the engagement party with my extended family.

Sunday is both services at church followed by the appointment with the florist in the afternoon.

Next weekend is the trip to New Jersey for CootieBoy‘s first birthday (!) and the Mets-Nats baseball game.

I’m too busy.