Archive for October 23-29, 2000Musings of My Mind
Sunday, October 29, 2000
Short Stuff
I woke up at the former 3:15am to find out it was 2:15am-- I'd thought it might be the weekend for the end of Daylight Savings Time but wasn't sure until I saw the message from Microsoft. I was up for an hour and then went back to bed but, we both woke up around 6:30am, new time. Quite often when I'm tired, because of the equilibrium problem I have in my right ear, I get extremely dizzy. This morning when I woke up, I had that dizziness. I was up for an hour or so before I had breakfast and then, I read for Grammy from the book after my shower and while Brian got ready to go and went to Costco.
I was still dizzy by the time that Brian got back so I laid back down, even though it was late morning, to take a nap. I was only supposed to sleep for an hour but Brian got involved in writing and, lo-n-behold, it was another two hours before I woke up! Unfortunately, I was still dizzy so I know it wasn't because of a lack of sleep!! Also, unfortunately, because I think I have a bug coming on, I decided not to bring the tape to Grammy-- she's not at a loss of reading material from what I understand which is a good thing. I'll probably get to bring it over to her later this week or, for sure, by next weekend.
I haven't felt very good all day-- I haven't done anything that I needed to do to sort the Christmas ornaments that I've made. I'll have to do that after I clean up my mess in the dining room for the housekeepers who will come on Tuesday.
Brian and I are going to watch Toy Story 2 together; he did his drop-ins while I watched Erin Brockovich, too. (He, of course, remembers all of the controversy surrounding the PG&E case, so it was kinda interesting for him to see the bits that he did see.)
That's about all that there's been to my day-- cleaned up links that I had to files in my system, mostly to archives but otherwise, I haven't been very productive because of not feeling well.
Hope you take care, don't get this bug and have a nice evening!
Saturday, October 28, 2000It's Time!
What time? Time to put up a post!! Okay, a recap of my day: I woke up, ate breakfast, called my cousin, went to the office, went shopping at Halloween costume store again (different one this time), went shopping at the craft store again, and went to the beauty supply store again.
Okay, that's it . . . have a nice night!
NOooo, I'm just joking!! I'll give ya more details, 'kay?
I figure the first two things are fairly self-explanatory; I called Barb and had another chat with her. Her mood was a bit better today, which is a good thing. I went to the office because I didn't bring my laptop home this weekend (of course, the one time I needed to bring it home, I didn't) and I had an email or two that I forgot to send yesterday. So, having sent the emails that were required, off to shopping-land I went!
I headed off to a different Halloween store and found some putty to mold a Bajorian nose; unfortunately, there weren't any ear cuff earrings there but, I am a crafty one, remember? A few weeks back when I mentioned shopping for my my boss's Halloween outfit, Barbara Thompson inquired about mine. I hadn't mentioned it "out loud" because I wasn't sure if anyone dressed up at my company. This is my first Halloween with them but one of the other contract managers mentioned that they do dress up so we've all been plotting our costumes. I have a Star Trek:TNG bridge (red/black) shirt that I've had for a number of years. So, that along with a Bajorian nose and ear cuff should cover me.
After the Halloween store, I hit the craft store but, there were no ear cuffs there-- not a big surprise since it is really not the fashion anymore. I did however manage to find a few more things for ornament making-- I need to stay out of that store!!
I also found a couple more candles to finish out our candle-plate in the living room. I've been working on this for a couple of months in connection with trying to find crystals to put on the plate. Brian had the idea of using the stones that we collect when we go to different beaches instead of crystals. Using those stones along with 6 or 7 different height candles, looks fantastic! Its finally complete!!
From there, I went to the beauty supply store and found some very small hair clips that can "work" as ear cuffs; I've got to figure something out to make the rest of the earring but at least I'm heading down the right road again. By the way, yes, I also bought shampoo, conditioner, and deep conditioner at the beauty supply store so it wasn't a stop for just the clips. I've got my full perm scheduled for next Friday/Saturday and have to "prepare" my hair.
That, needless to say, wore me about out completely-- when I went to the doctor on Thursday, I mentioned (again) that I'm always so fatigued. Proof? I slept 3+ hours this afternoon. There is definitely something wrong with my thyroid but I've got a new prescription to fill tomorrow and hope that'll do the trick for a bit anyway.
Stats
I normally don't comment on the stats of my site until the last day of the month but, something has been happening here and, while I'm surprised, I am also very pleased!! There have been over a 1,000 page reads just in the last five days!! I think that part of the upshot in my stats are readers that Brian sent over and have now been stopping by regularly-- welcome!! Hope you enjoy the joint and feel free to browse around.
Of course, some of the increased traffic is also due to webcrawlers which I find absolutely fascinating. Does anyone know how they work or what spurs them into coming to your site, etc.? I'd be interested in learning more about that!!
Again, thanks for coming by-- I enjoy having you in for a visit and hope you enjoy it, too!!
Back to ornaments now-- do take care and have a great evening!
Friday, October 27, 2000Not So Good News
My cousin, Barb, got a phone call from her doctor today-- as much as he said that the mass he removed from her thyroid gland didn't look cancerous, it turns out that it is malignant. Unfortunately, this means another surgery on Monday afternoon and, eventually, radiation treatment to make sure that it is out of her system. The prognosis is good (98% cure rate) but it is still scary.
So for the record: whatever your beliefs are ("Happy Thoughts", prayer, meditation), please offer one-- no, a bunch-- up for Barb. She has become an important friend to me these past months, in addition to the bonus of being my cousin.
When the two of us were talking (in between tears tonight), I told that it was sad that Uncle Chet had to die but, in a way, it was a good thing: my sister, Karen wouldn't have run into Barb at the funeral home and she and I wouldn't have started communicating by email or spending time together this summer. On the phone tonight, Barb and I agreed that her mom and my parents are up in heaven, looking down at all of us being friends as adults, and SMILING!! This is family!!!
Favorite Phrase
I have a favorite phrase that I'm often heard repeating: "I can find anything on the Internet-- I wasn't even looking for a husband and I found one!!" Well, I've done it again!!
This time, it was a sort of joint venture between Brian and I: He sent me to Google to look for "leg cushion sleep" and the first website up solved my back problems!!
Brian mentioned on his post today that my back is amazingly better after two nights on the cushions that I bought from . . . (drum roll, please) . . . www.PainReliever.com. I can highly recommend the Sleep Buddy and the OrthoWedge Cushion which, in just two night's time, have helped my back immensely!! I wrote them a letter thanking them. Now that I think of it, their customer and order service was prompt and efficient-- one of the least painful internet purchases I've ever made!!
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I'm trying to get the ornaments done tonight and tomorrow so that I can spend Sunday wrapping the ones that need to be shipped out. I haven't recorded any of the book for Grammy this week because I've been working on the ornaments. Yeesh!! So much to do and so little time . . . it always seems that way, doesn't it?
Whatever you do this evening, say a little prayer (or whatever) for Barb and be good to each other.
Have a nice evening!
Thursday, October 26, 2000Good News!!
My cousin, Barb, had her surgery and everything is OKAY!! They did find a mass of some sort on her thyroid; they took the mass and part of the thyroid to remove it. I didn't know they could do the partial removals-- medical advancements, what can you say?!?!?!? Anyway, she's coming out of recovery and will go home tomorrow. YIPPEE!!!!!
Coincidentally, I went to see my doctor today about my thyroid problem-- I had a TSH test a couple of weeks ago and, the results were UP again. Not good!! This has been going on for two years. We test, its higher, we raise the dosage a minuscule amount; we test, its higher, raise the dosage by a minuscule amount-- two years!! In the meantime, I'm still tired and moody and . . . well, you get the idea. So, today, my doctor raised the dosage by an amount that is not minuscule-- should be an interesting weekend, eh? ;>)
Cushioned Sleep
As I mentioned last night, I used my new cushions for sleeping last night. Other than being a hassle to remember to wake up to pull one into the bed when I take the other one out, it worked pretty good. The most major accomplishment was that for the first time in four weeks, I was able to sleep on my side!! That may not seem like much to you but to me, a side sleeper, I think I slept better than I have for a long time, too. My back is almost perfect these days-- I didn't use any icepacks today at all and I don't have very much pain. This is one of those "this close" things: I'm [this close] to be perfect and, when there's no rain, being able to ride my bike again!
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Yes, it is raining-- the sound of pitter-patter dripping from the roof since last night and almost all through the day. Its been kinda chilly here lately, too. Ah, yes, autumn is definitely in the air!
Of course, that means that Christmas is stampeding up very fast behind it so I have to run as I have a bunch of ornaments to finish SOON for shipping purposes!
Thanks for coming by for a visit-- Have a good evening!
Wednesday, October 25, 2000Odds-n-Ends
This is going to be quick-- its already late but I've got a bazillion things to catch up on:
- My cousin, Barb, who has become a very good friend in addition to being my cousin over this past year, is having her surgery tomorrow. She has a friend "commissioned" to call me so that I know how the surgery went and how she's doing. It'll be easier for me than trying to figure out who to call and when they'll get home from the hospital, etc.
- It appears that I "cursed" Barbara Thompson the other day: Malcolm hadn't done any of his usual antics and then, this morning . . .
- Lynne Walder's mum is doing well in her recovery which is always GOOD news!!
- Keri Beland reminded me today that not all "Rocket Scientists" are a bad thing, even when they get their hands on computers and other electronics toys but, in this case the problem is when they get their hands on the toys and don't know what to do with them. As I explained to Keri, if this had been rocket science, I know these guys would've been confused but, we're talking fax line installation and it was their specialty!!
- Surprisingly, although it shouldn't be, our new business cards came. The Operations' printing people had a list of the phone and fax numbers before the move even took place so, three days after the move, we can get new business cards delivered!! Wow!!! I was impressed!! Out of the ten in my department, more than half were accurate, too. The ones that were wrong were wrong because they didn't realize how we were going to lay out fax machines, etc., so they couldn't have been right. The Operations people at my company are smart people-- the people that were hired for fax installation were hired by MIS. 'Nuf said, eh?
- Overall, my back is doing 98% better than even three days ago. Today, in the mail, we received the cushions that had been ordered so that I can have more stable surfaces to support my knees when I sleep. Hopefully, this gets me even quicker down the road of full recovery.
- This morning, because of something I need for work, I went to the Toys-R-Us site to look for a "gift". The URL www.toysrus.com doesn't go to the store website anymore but is swooped into Amazon.com!! Another store that I won't be shopping at-- not a problem!! We've already got Christmas taken care of elsewhere so it won't matter to us but, I thought for those parents who read my site and are trying to boycott Amazon.com like myself and many others, it would be a nice thing to know.
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Brian is still feeling a bit under the weather and, its "How To" night so . . . I'm off-- hope you have a nice evening!
Tuesday, October 24, 2000The Saga Continues!
Well, there you have it! That's my "spaghetti"!! Isn't it lovely?? So decorative, don't you think? Certainly adds a distinctive look to my entire cubicle! Yes, I've ordered rubberbands-- a 1/4 pound of rubberbands and, if I'm lucky, that'll be enough! Then, of course, my back has to be in good enough shape to twist and reach behind my monitor and stuff the cables in the dark gray area (there's a pattern to the fabric that you can't see well in this picture). That's the little storage bin we get to use for cords and such. Mind you that in the panel, behind the laptop and porting station, the phone port block is located so I think fitting all of those cables and cords into that little space, that has been greatly reduced should be interesting and challenging!! Perhaps, I'll save that for a time when I have to vent a bit and then I can slam the little bin door a bazillion times while I'm squashing cables into it. Of course, the problem with that is that every time I slam on the cubicle side, the cables fall out on the corridor side but, that's not my problem, is it? That would be the problem of the operations director!!
Full Cubie!
If I recall, there was some discussion among the Daynotes Gang about HP reducing the cubicle sizes from 8'x8'. The following are pictures of my cubicle-- all 8'x8' of it. I'm pleased and proud to be the SOLE owner and occupant of said space.
The view on the left above shows the magnetic light-- attractive, eh? Notice how I have very few things on that shelf? Yeah, well, what can I say? I don't have anything that I need stripped to bare metal and plastic but, if I ever do, I'll know where to go! The second picture
is a little more in the center of my main work area; note that you can see my tiara on my monitor. On the right is the "clean" space where I can review and mark-up documents, etc. The scary part for Brian is that as clean as my desk is here at my office, its the pits at home! I guess I use all of my organizational skills (yes, I know, an oxymoron!) at the office, leaving none for home. Oh, well!As hoped, by the time that I made it into the office this morning, I did have a working fax machine and I was even provided the number so I could inform my customers. Overall, I do like my office better than I did the last three that I've had at this company-- for my fourth and hopefully, final move here, I'm pleased!!
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Tonight on my way home from work, I stopped at the sporting goods stores (yes, two of them) to try to find a reflective vest, gloves and a "tummy toner". The only thing I found was the toner so I can (when dismissed from the care of my chiropractor) begin those exercises. The way that this gadget works should afford me tummy toning as well as some back-muscle strengthening. Obviously, there's a method to that madness-- I'm trying to strengthen my back so I don't have it go out on me again!!
Other than that, I'm working on ornaments hot-n-heavy right now. I've got a bunch done but a bunch more need to get done. Its fun and relieves some of my stress so I'm going to go with it.
Be good to each other and have a good evening!
Monday, October 23, 2000Not Good with Change!
Man, what a mess!! It took two hours to get my internet connection-- would you believe that the guy from MIS decided he had to inform me that I needed to check to see if there was a plug in the port before I called to tell him that? [Oh, yes, he now has two of them!! ;>)] Then, ten minutes later, since I reminded him that I knew what an internet cable was and that I knew it wasn't there, he brought me my cable and, low and behold, I was right!! They had, indeed, neglected to give me a cable!! Wow!! Rocket science, eh?
It gets better: The fax/phone guys came around to connect my fax number to the phone network; the guy comes to my area and asks me how to dial out. I said, "You have to dial 9 first". He said, "No, there's no handset, how do you dial out?" I repeated-- "You dial 9 and then the number" but I added an important ingredient: "You have to have a live line." It seems he kept expecting to get a dial tone upon dialing the 9 and, when not getting it, he couldn't figure out what was wrong. Oh, yes, rocket science, indeed!!
Oh, another one: We're a software company, right? Guess how the task lights are attached to the shelving in our cubicles? With magnets, of course!! How long do you suppose it took them to come up with that one?
I've had a very not good day and am only hoping that by the time I go in tomorrow, my fax is hooked up and ready for use and that the cables that have a total of 6"x3' of space to be stuffed into have, somehow, managed to be stuffed into te space. If not, I swear, I'm going to take a camera on Wednesday and take a picture of the pile of cables I have on my desk that I'm supposed to work around! It is really a nasty looking desk but, its not my fault but the fault of the design.
I have a label printer, electric pencil sharpener, printer/fax machine, laptop, monitor, porting station, and telephone headset; I've been given six plugs to use but one was taken before I got moved in so I've only got five and, obviously, I also have to add a power strip to accommodate the other plugs that don't fit in the five that I've been given. Then, I'm supposed to figure out a way to stuff all of this extra cable into these little "bins" that they have built into the wall. To reach these bins, I have to stretch my back in contortionistic curvatures, let alone making sure that the cables don't fall out the other side. Oh, did I forget to mention that the bins can be opened from either side and that it is just a matter of lifting the bit of "wall" to have them all fall out at you. Actually, you don't have to lilft them to open them-- if you over-fill them, they will also just drop open from the opposite side that you are filling them and dispose of the cables, etc., onto the floor behind your cubicle. Yes, a wonderful design, indeed!!
ARGH!! I'm not going to stress about this at home, too!!!
Moving On
Guess what? I've got my first official wreath done. Well, actually, I did
both wreaths yesterday but, since I've only got a picture of the one that goes in my office, that's what you get to see. If you want to see the wreath for the main door to our apartment, you'll have to come visit!! Nah, nevermind-- eventually, I'll get a picture of it up but it took poor Brian more than 24 hours to get this picture to me because of being frustrated by the DSL situation.
Other than that, nothing major has been happening. I would like to work on my ornaments tonight but my back is acting up a bit . . . could have something to do with stress due to . . . rocket scientists-- yeah, that's the ticket!!
Have a good evening!!
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