Sunday, February 27, 2000

Major Accomplishments!

Finally!!  I've got the drawers in my dressers cleaned out!!  I found a bunch of panty hose and knee-highs I didn't know I had so I'm feeling very smug right now-- I won't have to buy either for a long time, I hope!!  I've cleaned off the shelves of my closet and moved some other clothes to storage that should've been moved a long time ago.  I've gotten the last two bills of the month paid-- actually, one had a balance of $.01 and I will wait until next month to write the check for it but call the water company tomorrow to make sure that they are aware that I'm not being delinquent in my payment.  (How does one write a check for $.01??  I'm pretty sure Quicken would figure it out but, the check paper itself would cost more!!)

I've got the next round of plantings for the pots finished and the pots have all been moved outdoors.  Spike has been looking a bit peaked since we transplanted him-- it was a rough transplant so I'm not surprised but, Brian and I thought some crisp air would do him some good, too.  The other three lettuce pots have new seeds and have been permanently placed on the potting table for a few months.  When it gets HOT during the day, which it ultimately will around June or July, I'll move them to the bench but for the first part of the growth season, the potting table will give them a good exposure to sun and warmth.  Brian and I are both a bit hesitant about leaving them out there because of the Earls but hopefully, being on top of a tall table will help keep them safe for a few weeks-- at least long enough to have the new seeds take root and the existing seeds continued growth.  I also found that I had to thin out one of the pots-- the smaller of the two round-- just too much of a thicket to grow well, I think.  We'll see-- I may have ruined everything!

Next, I'm going to plant myself in front of the tube and do some serious cross-stitching before taking a shower and going to the concert tonight.  As hoped, Brian and I expect to have dinner in the city before we go to the concert so it should be an exciting evening.

Have a great day and evening . . .

Nothing's New . . .

When I went to type the date above here today, I started with "19" and stopped myself-- YET!!  Geesh!!  So, we've done our Costco run, including new towels and bathroom rug and new bedroom pillows-- I like my pillows puffy but they don't seem to stay that way for long or at least, not long enough for me.

I've drawn out a new border for one of my cross-stitch patterns-- I didn't like the one that came with the pattern and that's the easiest resolution to the problem.  I've read through the first chapter and part of the second chapter, as well, of the Hearst Castle book that we picked up on our weekend.  I decided that I'm going to give a synopsis of the building of the Castle in the same format that the book is laid out.  I hope to have something up later this weekend on my "Meanderings" page.

Because Brian's grandmother read in the newspaper that the weather was going to be "wet, wild and windy", she called to cancel dinner but, we are a flexible group, Brian and I!  He, a gourmet cook, is going to be preparing dinner for us tonight: Halibut steaks, zucchini (probably steamed to perfection), and long grain rice.  We picked up some white cheddar cheese which we were introduced to at his folks' house a few weeks back along with some crackers for an appetizer.  Num-Num!!

More later, probably . . .

Later it is . . .

Well, we've been over the river and through the woods and are all the way back already!  Brian did a marvelous job of cooking halibut-- I'm not a big fish fan but I do like the way he cooks fish!  We had a wonderful visit but came back home and, I don't know what he's been doing (other than helping me) but I've been working on my Meanderings files about the Hearst Castle.  Had a few problems with the set-up . . . I probably didn't hold my tongue right but, all is or at least appears to be functioning now.  The other three parts of the four parts series will be developed over the course of the next few weeks . . . bear with me as I've got some manual file structure to clean up and in between, will be writing the other entries.

File clean-up you say?  Oh, yes, that's the fun part about publishing using Netscape Composer-- for the first few months, I couldn't figure out why my thumbnails weren't publishing so I dumped everything into the images file on my system.  Now I've got almost 200 images in the file and most of them should be in a thumb file.  Then, there's the fun that "publishing" with Netscape Composer does-- if you don't aim it at the right file and, frankly, I forget to check sometimes, you end up with duplicate files all over the place!  And, lucky me, I get to clean that up tomorrow along with about ninety other things that I wanted to do . . . well, we'll just have to see what gets done now, won't we?  ;>)

Anyway, I'm going to see what trouble I can get into with the files tonight so I'll see you tomorrow . . . maybe . . . if I haven't messed this up entirely!!

What's New?

I have no clue!  Its funny but, since I posted about not being able to update during the day, I've started to at least write about stuff during the day as it occurred to me.  Today, I didn't have time to do that-- as a result, I can't remember anything remarkable that happened that I need to report . . . that's really sad, isn't it?  I think it is-- just another Friday in Paradise.  Well, its "Paradise" when the rain has stopped which, for the moment, it has.

Since we've been home from work this afternoon, we've done the laundry and I've cooked my dinner; Brian had a large, late lunch so he probably won't be hungry until about 10PM which is way too late for me to eat.  I've also done dishes twice so he's going to be on his own after he makes and eats dinner.

I had originally intended to start the second growth of lettuce in the pots on the second week but, since that was last week when we were gone, I decided to make it a three week plant so I'll do that this weekend.  I've got a couple of clothes drawers that I want to go through to thin out a bit of things that I don't wear anymore and, I'll have to nap at some point, too.

There's an author who is a poet named Susan Sark-- A book she wrote is called "Succulent Wild Woman" and it is truly wonderful-- an excellent read!  In that book, she explains that you need to be able to give yourself permission to take a nap.  That was contrary to everything I had heard, prior to reading the book and, I decided I liked it.  Since I first read this book in September of 1997, I've given myself permission (don't need it from anyone else) to take a nap.

Picking up this book reminds me that I need a weekend away from everything to just sit and read.  I used to be good at it but then, I got to where I can't concentrate and its gone downhill from there!  One of these days, I may just disappear for a reading weekend . . . that would be different, eh?

Cold this morning . . .

Our heater decided that it wasn't going to talk to the thermostat so it was about 65 inside the apartment when we woke up.  Brian tried to convince me that that wasn't cold but, I have to admit, I didn't believe him . . . even a little bit!  He tells me that it is now fixed but, I will be the final judge of it since my desk sits directly in front of the heater tonight!!  (I'm writing this in an email to send to myself and put in my update.)

The apartment that we live in is technically fairly old-- I believe it was built in the late 40s or early 50s as additional housing for the Moffett Air Force Base enlisted personnel.  It was sold for private use somewhere in the 60s and, has been privately held ever since to the best of my knowledge.  There are a total of 7 buildings but, I think that we've got one of the best kept because we have the management office in our building.  When I originally moved here, it was right after I separated and being the untrusting person that I was, I figured my belongings (and I) would be safe if I were across from the office (which I was at the time).  When Brian first moved in with me, that's the apartment that we had but, we now live in an apartment with a bigger living room-- about double the size of the previous apartment's living room-- but it has the same number of bedrooms and, unfortunately, only one bath.  When people find out what we pay for rent, depending on where they live in the US, there are various states of responses ranging from people gasping and clutching their shirts to feign a heart attack to laughing and wistfully wishful gazes.

However, since the time I've moved into the apartment, almost three years ago, the rent has only gone up around $225.00 which, when you average it out, is not bad, ESPECIALLY for Silicon Valley.  We have a bigger living room than the first apartment, a very safe neighborhood, quiet and normal neighbors (which really makes Brian stick out like a sore thumb!!) and rent that is the most reasonable in the Valley.  While I don't like my rent going up, if it only goes up $80.00 a year, I think we're doing pretty good.

Ready for a weekend!

I know its only been three days (instead of the customary four days) but I'm really ready for a weekend.  Saturday will be spent running errands that we didn't get to do last weekend and dinner with one of Brian's grandparents; Sunday we have the LosLobos concert.

"Night"

I think its that time again . . . if only because I'm redesigning part of a cross-stitch pattern-- I don't like the way they did the corner on the pattern!

Drive By Posting. . .

The reason for the header is because this really is nothing more than a drive-by-- its 7pm and I've got some work to do from the office and I've got to pay some more of those pesky bills to keep the utilities on and I've got an update for my sister's website.  I did some work on my website last night which you can see on the home page and a minor change on this page, too (removal of "ARCHIVE" at the top).  I've been trying to get an update from Susan for about a week and a half so I want to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.

More to follow soon . . .

Before I leave, I have to share a "conversation" that Barbara Thompson and I had on email today:

Barbara:  Nice looking couple in the photo's too.
What is it about PC guru's and beards?

Me:  It saves them time in the bathroom in the
morning!

I forgot part of my answer to this one:

> > Nice looking couple in the photo's too. What
> > is it about PC guru's and beards?
>
> Thanks-- It saves them time in the bathroom in
> the morning!

. . . and they can get to their computers quicker!

**********

Hit again!

Well, let's see: I've got the bills paid and the website for my sister updated (added a page and changed the layout of the home page) and now I'm waiting for my Lotus Notes to replicate so I can see if I get to get any work done tonight.  "Replicate" or "Replication" sounds strange doesn't it?  Reminds me of something out of Star Trek which would be only one of the things about this job that reminds me of Star Trek.  The other thing that reminds me of that is my "Docking Station" at work . . . for my laptop, don'tcha know?

Anyway, so now that I've printed the Quicken checks twice-- it took me that long to figure out that I was out of ink and, even then, only after I tried to print a totally unrelated document from Word (No, no, it couldn't just flash something at me that said it needed a toner cartridge!)-- blank and once correctly and then, signed them all (badly-- my signature gets worse every time I sign it), I am just about finished for tonight.  Okay, so its 9:30 and I'm exhausted-- what else is new?

I want to try to read more about the Hearst Castle tonight and maybe even get that "history" written by the weekend-- its a fascinating story (and no wonder that Patty Hearst is Patty Hearst, as well).

Replication complete . . . gotta run-- have a good night and I'll catch y'all tomorrow night!

Now that I'm awake . . .

Maybe awake didn't have that much to do with it but, y'know how I am about spelling and punctuation, right?  Well, I went back through my Morro Bay "Trip Report" and found a couple of typos (even after Brian proofed it, too!) so I've fixed those now.  I am soooo picky and critical (mostly of myself!)!!

Archive through Sunday . . . start new week on Monday.

That was a note to myself-- interesting, huh?  Do ya suppose that MOST people start their week on Monday?  Well, DAH!!!  I've just decided to "come 'round" to the thinking of the Daynotes Gang and the majority of the other Netwidows and start my week there, too.  Because of our travel adventures, it is kinda hard to split up out weekend anyway and laying the format out Monday through Sunday makes it easier to flow with that.  So, perhaps, although probably not, this is one of the last format changes that I can think of for awhile.

Maybe not completely because I am going to start something on my home page and for the type of special reports that I've written, including the Monarch butterflies of January as well as the Morro Bay weekend pictures and,
eventually, the Hearst Castle report.

**********
There will probably be more later but I've got some page-changing to do for myself.  Back Later . . .

**********

Its later and here I am, as previously indicated.

Summer Plans

Well, someone has to make them!  I'm reserving a couple of long weekends in California's State Park system through ReserveAmerica . . . you remember them, don't you?  They are the company that we used to make and change our vacation reservations last year.  Our first reservation is going to be at the park that we tried to go to last year, Pfeiffer State Park, down in Big Sur.  We couldn't go because of a pesky forest fire (that ultimately wiped out most of the forest) that has since been put out so, by June, it should be in good shape for camping!  Then, we're hoping to get a reservation at Clear Lake in September but, its too early to book that reservation-- considering how busy it gets there, I'm posting a note on Scottie so that I don't forget to check on a weekly basis!

So, that leaves us with a trip to the forest for hiking, a trip to a lake for fishing (trout are in major supplies at Clear Lake!), and the theatre in July to Ashland!  We don't have anything for August yet but, the time is "young" by calendar year standards so I'm not going to worry that we'll be bored!

**********
Dinner sounds like its ready so I'm off-- Brian cooks so I'll do dishes.  Maybe I'll be back but, after Wendy's post of her cross-stitch today, I'm really looking forward to working on mine for a bit!

Trip Report Forthcoming . . .

We're back!  Two nights and three days in Central Coastal California-- Trip report will be attached and, for the benefit of those who may have noticed that my week got a little thin toward the end, I'm going to leave this post gathered into last week's for a time.  More to come but, suffice it to say, I'm glad we're back!!

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