I can't remember half the stuff I think about to put in my blog when I fire up the ol' browser and login to the site.
It's like my brain flushes the stuff right out of my head.
Let's see....
Did I mention we have a lot of pets now? I took our dog, Pepper, into the vet and she's now 4.1 pounds. Yes. Four point one pounds. I think that's about as big as we can expect her to get.
Tuffy, our cat, is 22.2 pounds. Yes, that's twenty two point two pounds.
You can see, we've switched the natural order of things in our house. The cat is huge and the dog is small.
Also, the cat is NOT overweight. According to the vet, he could stand to lose five pounds or so, but he's not obese. He's a BIG cat.
I was lugging Tuffy into the vet's office while Ben carried Pepper in behind me. Tuffy was in his dog-sized carrier. When the vet looked, he saw me struggling with the carrier. Later, he saw the carrier on the ground and Pepper in my arms.
Huh! The vet thought I had struggled with Pepper. What a riot. We laughed and laughed. Then, the vet had to go in the back and tell the assistants why we laughed so much.
Brittany's enjoying Moody Bible Institute, but she's too busy to bother with Mom and Dad anymore. She does call me when she either needs help with her laptop or needs us to do something for her. The worst part about the whole Brittany-being-gone-from-home deal is... well, there are a few bad things:
1) I don't have anyone to share my fruit smoothies with anymore. Barb only drinks a little bit of them.
2) No one bakes cookies for us anymore.
3) Brittany has not yet and will probably not experience home sickness. Apprently, she was far too ready to leave our happy little nest for bigger and better things.
4) We have to forward some mail to her still.
Bobby's a senior. I'm not sure what he's going to do next year.
We have an Albino African Frog. I think I mentioned him before. He's still eating live gold fish. I get him like 8 or so a week. He's growing quite large.
Did you know there are people dedicated to rescuing hermit crabs?
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/index.php
Do people just have way too much expendable time on their hands? I would think these energies could go into other things like... oh say... feeding the hungry, taking care of the old and sick, and making sure orphaned children are cared for?
But no, the hermit crabs need rescuing instead. I'm going to start the Yeast Rescue Society. No baking bread that rises! Save the Yeast!
Are you a yeast killer? No making beer either! Shame on you yeasties!! Ban Nystatin! Yeast Rules!
Just send your non-tax deductable donations to the Yeast Rescue Society to me. I'll take all the money you want to send.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Thursday, September 07, 2006
My Dog Ate My Jury Summons
Well... she almost ate my jury summons. I found the summons on the floor in her play area. One corner of the summons was a tad chewed.
Had I not looked, I'd have totally missed the summons all together. I've learned since then, when the dog hears the mail man open the mail-slot in our door and push in a pile of letters onto our floor, I need to beat her to them. Otherwise, she'll grab some letters and "open" them.
Our dog, Pepper, weighed in at 3.6 pounds last Monday. I take her in to the Banefield vet clinic inside Petsmart this coming Monday. We're doing weekly shots until she's caught up.
Bobby, Ben, and Bekah started school today. Our neighbors across the street had their 4-year old start Kindergarten today, so they were out there with cameras, etc. You have to be careful with the Nazi bus drivers here in NY State. They'll yell at you, the parent, if you're not standing in the right spot.
For example, if I cross the street to greet my child, I'll get corrected by the bus driver. I'm not supposed to cross the street to greet her. My daughter is supposed to cross the street to our house under the direction of the bus driver.
Bekah's making me give Pepper a bath now.....
Had I not looked, I'd have totally missed the summons all together. I've learned since then, when the dog hears the mail man open the mail-slot in our door and push in a pile of letters onto our floor, I need to beat her to them. Otherwise, she'll grab some letters and "open" them.
Our dog, Pepper, weighed in at 3.6 pounds last Monday. I take her in to the Banefield vet clinic inside Petsmart this coming Monday. We're doing weekly shots until she's caught up.
Bobby, Ben, and Bekah started school today. Our neighbors across the street had their 4-year old start Kindergarten today, so they were out there with cameras, etc. You have to be careful with the Nazi bus drivers here in NY State. They'll yell at you, the parent, if you're not standing in the right spot.
For example, if I cross the street to greet my child, I'll get corrected by the bus driver. I'm not supposed to cross the street to greet her. My daughter is supposed to cross the street to our house under the direction of the bus driver.
Bekah's making me give Pepper a bath now.....
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Immoral Thoughts
I'm having immoral thoughts.
For example, is it immoral to put Snuggle brand fabric softener in a Downy brand fabric softener ball?
If you don't know what a Downy ball is, then click on this link:
http://www.downy.com/en_US/products/downyball.jsp
I have a confession to make. I've been doing it -- putting Snuggle brand fabric softener in my Downy Ball. I feel so immoral and cheap, but I just can't help myself.
My puppy poops in the house. I'm trying to teach her to poop outside, but I think it's hard for a small dog to poop. Well, I just read on a web-site they don't have full control of their sphincter until they're about 4 months old. Pepper's not there yet.
Well, I need to consider other moral issues, like can you put Pepsi in a Coke glass? Things like this keep me busy day in and day out.
Maybe I'll go eat some Japanese food for lunch today. Now, that's a segway if I ever wrote one.
For example, is it immoral to put Snuggle brand fabric softener in a Downy brand fabric softener ball?
If you don't know what a Downy ball is, then click on this link:
http://www.downy.com/en_US/products/downyball.jsp
I have a confession to make. I've been doing it -- putting Snuggle brand fabric softener in my Downy Ball. I feel so immoral and cheap, but I just can't help myself.
My puppy poops in the house. I'm trying to teach her to poop outside, but I think it's hard for a small dog to poop. Well, I just read on a web-site they don't have full control of their sphincter until they're about 4 months old. Pepper's not there yet.
Well, I need to consider other moral issues, like can you put Pepsi in a Coke glass? Things like this keep me busy day in and day out.
Maybe I'll go eat some Japanese food for lunch today. Now, that's a segway if I ever wrote one.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Long, Long, Time
Well, I stopped blogging in May because I left my job at Key Bank and didn't want to blog again until I got another job.
I'm happy to say I started a new job as a Senior Systems Development Specialist at a new company last week.
The problem with Key Bank is I was a bad fit. You see, they only have about 20 minutes of work to do each day. I wanted to be busy all day. That was a bad match up.
I found it difficult to try to look busy for 7:40 hours per day when you have nothing to do. I felt like I was in the USAF again -- doing nothing all day long.
Actually, I left Key in April, but I worked for Amici for about a month as a 1099 consultant. Amici didn't renew my contract because Xerox was in the process of buying them out.
As far as everyone at Amici -- I mean Xerox -- goes, nothing's changed. It's the same place. Well, Xerox instantiated a drug testing policy. I know of one guy in particular who was a tremendous worker who had to leave. Druggie!
I had a great summer, though. I love being unemployed. It's like a big vacation.
My last week at Amici, Barb came down with Mono. She's still suffering from it. That was in late-May.
I became a house-husband -- cooking (very little, I might add), cleaning (some), laundry (lots and lots and lots), etc. I just made sure I kept Barb in bottled water and Kellogg's brand Pop Tarts.
I also did a lot of work around the house (and am still doing it). For one, I replaced our broken garbage disposal. I've been organizing and cleaning the basement, I'm replacing the broken glass in the garage door, I've painted a few things, etc.
We had a new sidewalk poured in the front of our house. That's our responsibility. The Village of Scotia, NY is good about that. They let us take care of all of the public-works maintenance at our own expense.
I'm having the driveway sealed today. It needs to be done. What more can I say?
We now have a LOT of pets.
First off, Ben decided he absolutely had to have a snake -- a corn snake to be specific. Now, you might think a CORN snake eats corn, but they don't. They don't look like corn, smell like corn, feel like corn, or taste like corn. As far as I can tell, they don't even sound like corn.
Ben joined some Internet forums and became an instant Corn Snake expert. He knows their habits, living conditions, diet, common medical issues, etc. Ben even got Bekah all excited about the snake.
Yeah. I bought him one at Petsmart. It's up stairs in Ben's room doing whatever corn snakes do best.
We have to feed the snake very small frozen mice called "pinkies". They're called "pinkies" because they're all pink with no fur. They're $9.99 for only six (6) at Petsmart.
I decided that would not work, and since Bekah was all excited about getting more pets -- especially mice -- we got some.
Buying mice at Petsmart is a major pain in the neck. First, they often don't have any. Second, they ONLY carry one sex per store. They have all female and all male stores. I had to call all the Petsmarts in the area and travel miles and miles and miles, but I got one male and two female mice.
We're on our second set of babies now. I still have eight (8) living babies from the first set. I chose all solid-colored mice for this set. They're okay. One mom is still pregnant, but I have about 10 pinkie-fuzzies (the next level up from pinkies is fuzzies) in a cage right now.
We have an African Albino Frog. I bought it from our local Scotia Fish Store -- "Something's Fishy" in July. Bekah loved it for a few hours, but you can't hold an African Albino Frog in your hands and pet it.
It started out at about an inch long. It's now about 3 inches long. The pet store owner dude told me, "Don't put the frog in with any other fish."
I thought it was to protect the frog. WRONG! It's to protect the fish. These frogs are like Oscars. They'll eat ANYTHING they can fit in their mouths. This frog is supposed to keep growing and growing and growing and growing.
He's fun though. I put 8 feeder guppies in with him on Friday. Two are left. I need to buy more tomorrow.
We have a Betta fish, a gold fish, two silver mollies, a white Cory catfish, and two Placastamuses.
You already know we have a cat that's about 25 pounds named Tuffy, right? Well, he's not very loving really. Tuffy eats, poops and pees, sleeps, and begs for cold cuts when we open the fridge. That's it.
We finally broke down and got her a dog. Her name is Pepper and she's half miniature pinscher and half chihuahua. She was 2.8 pounds at the vet's office a couple of weeks ago. I'd say she's topped 3 pounds by now.
Other than the fact she's still not house broken, I really like this dog.
Barb drove Brittany and Bekah up to Chicago earlier this month. I don't know when they're going to return, but it's just me, the boys, and the pets here at the house.
Brittany starts school at Moody Bible Institute today. Bekah must be home by September 6th to start school, so I expect them by then. Barb is visiting with her sister and parents who all live very near Chicago. Bekah's been playing hard with her cousin, Sarah, who is the same age as Bekah.
In my new job, I get to work from home most of the time. I'll be developing software for the business. I'm sure I'm going to really enjoy working in this new position, and I'll be learning some very marketable skills as well.
I promise to write more soon.
I'm happy to say I started a new job as a Senior Systems Development Specialist at a new company last week.
The problem with Key Bank is I was a bad fit. You see, they only have about 20 minutes of work to do each day. I wanted to be busy all day. That was a bad match up.
I found it difficult to try to look busy for 7:40 hours per day when you have nothing to do. I felt like I was in the USAF again -- doing nothing all day long.
Actually, I left Key in April, but I worked for Amici for about a month as a 1099 consultant. Amici didn't renew my contract because Xerox was in the process of buying them out.
As far as everyone at Amici -- I mean Xerox -- goes, nothing's changed. It's the same place. Well, Xerox instantiated a drug testing policy. I know of one guy in particular who was a tremendous worker who had to leave. Druggie!
I had a great summer, though. I love being unemployed. It's like a big vacation.
My last week at Amici, Barb came down with Mono. She's still suffering from it. That was in late-May.
I became a house-husband -- cooking (very little, I might add), cleaning (some), laundry (lots and lots and lots), etc. I just made sure I kept Barb in bottled water and Kellogg's brand Pop Tarts.
I also did a lot of work around the house (and am still doing it). For one, I replaced our broken garbage disposal. I've been organizing and cleaning the basement, I'm replacing the broken glass in the garage door, I've painted a few things, etc.
We had a new sidewalk poured in the front of our house. That's our responsibility. The Village of Scotia, NY is good about that. They let us take care of all of the public-works maintenance at our own expense.
I'm having the driveway sealed today. It needs to be done. What more can I say?
We now have a LOT of pets.
First off, Ben decided he absolutely had to have a snake -- a corn snake to be specific. Now, you might think a CORN snake eats corn, but they don't. They don't look like corn, smell like corn, feel like corn, or taste like corn. As far as I can tell, they don't even sound like corn.
Ben joined some Internet forums and became an instant Corn Snake expert. He knows their habits, living conditions, diet, common medical issues, etc. Ben even got Bekah all excited about the snake.
Yeah. I bought him one at Petsmart. It's up stairs in Ben's room doing whatever corn snakes do best.
We have to feed the snake very small frozen mice called "pinkies". They're called "pinkies" because they're all pink with no fur. They're $9.99 for only six (6) at Petsmart.
I decided that would not work, and since Bekah was all excited about getting more pets -- especially mice -- we got some.
Buying mice at Petsmart is a major pain in the neck. First, they often don't have any. Second, they ONLY carry one sex per store. They have all female and all male stores. I had to call all the Petsmarts in the area and travel miles and miles and miles, but I got one male and two female mice.
We're on our second set of babies now. I still have eight (8) living babies from the first set. I chose all solid-colored mice for this set. They're okay. One mom is still pregnant, but I have about 10 pinkie-fuzzies (the next level up from pinkies is fuzzies) in a cage right now.
We have an African Albino Frog. I bought it from our local Scotia Fish Store -- "Something's Fishy" in July. Bekah loved it for a few hours, but you can't hold an African Albino Frog in your hands and pet it.
It started out at about an inch long. It's now about 3 inches long. The pet store owner dude told me, "Don't put the frog in with any other fish."
I thought it was to protect the frog. WRONG! It's to protect the fish. These frogs are like Oscars. They'll eat ANYTHING they can fit in their mouths. This frog is supposed to keep growing and growing and growing and growing.
He's fun though. I put 8 feeder guppies in with him on Friday. Two are left. I need to buy more tomorrow.
We have a Betta fish, a gold fish, two silver mollies, a white Cory catfish, and two Placastamuses.
You already know we have a cat that's about 25 pounds named Tuffy, right? Well, he's not very loving really. Tuffy eats, poops and pees, sleeps, and begs for cold cuts when we open the fridge. That's it.
We finally broke down and got her a dog. Her name is Pepper and she's half miniature pinscher and half chihuahua. She was 2.8 pounds at the vet's office a couple of weeks ago. I'd say she's topped 3 pounds by now.
Other than the fact she's still not house broken, I really like this dog.
Barb drove Brittany and Bekah up to Chicago earlier this month. I don't know when they're going to return, but it's just me, the boys, and the pets here at the house.
Brittany starts school at Moody Bible Institute today. Bekah must be home by September 6th to start school, so I expect them by then. Barb is visiting with her sister and parents who all live very near Chicago. Bekah's been playing hard with her cousin, Sarah, who is the same age as Bekah.
In my new job, I get to work from home most of the time. I'll be developing software for the business. I'm sure I'm going to really enjoy working in this new position, and I'll be learning some very marketable skills as well.
I promise to write more soon.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
More is not necessarily better
Bulldog and I were chatting about something the other day where the manufacturer added more things to the thingy. I can't remember what it was, and that's driving me nuts. I do; however, know our US razor manufacturers are adding more blades to t heir razors.
When will it ever end? I think there's a five-bladed razor out there now! One day, we're going to have this yard-stick long razor you run over your face once and leave bone and gristly. You'll never need to shave again!
More marshmallows in our Lucky Charms™ (they're magically delicious!)? I don't know. I can't remember. Man, it's driving me nuts!
I'm going out tonight "with the boys". We're having dinner and then seeing V For Vendetta. The last movie we all saw together wasn't all that good in my humble opinion (Ultra Violet). I don't know anyone who actually like Ultra Violet.
After the movie, I'm supposed to pick up my sister, Karen, from the airport. She's coming in on Northwest flight 1514 at 10:32pm. I have to go to the Albany airport and pick her up because her husband, Rod, is having "a procedure" done today.
Karen wouldn't tell me what "a procedure" is other than he can't drive for a day or so after it occurs. I know for a fact Rod was "fixed" a long time ago, so it can't be that. I guess I'll never know. It's like, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie-Pop™?"
There are just some things mankind is fated not to know. At least I'm fated not to know them, in the case of Rod. I'm sure Rod knows... and possibly even Karen -- his wife.
We have friends who are missionaries in Cameroon, Africa visiting on Friday night. I'll have to put all my booze and porn away for their visit (just kidding.... I'll leave it out for them to enjoy too.... Mwa haa haa... just kidding again...).
I've known the woman, Yezmin, since I was a freshman in college. Wow. Twenty-six years! Barb (I mean Evil) has known her longer. They have the most interesting stories to tell, as you can imagine. A lot of their stories have to do with just *being* a missionary and cultural stuff.
Brittany just phoned me. She's been accepted into Moody Bible Institute! Wow. What a terrific kid. She did very well this year in school (Schenectady County Community College), but she wants to go to Moody now.
Moody's tuition is free (zero dollars and zero cents). However, you do need to pay for room and board. Still, it's a good deal cheaper than schools that are less-than-free. Brittany's going to study teaching English as a second language. I hope it's a good experience for her.
Brittany really needs to get out of the house for a bit. She (being the Evil Overlord In Training or the OIT for short) has conflicts with Pure Evil herself ooccasionon. The conflicts primarily focus on When-Is-A-Good-Time-To-Mess-Up-Evil's-Kitchen-By-Baking-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies and the like. Still, I think the OIT will enjoy "being on her own some."
No fear, Bekah is becoming more Evil every day. I will get to enjoy many, many more years of burgeoning Evil in my house.
I'm excited!
When will it ever end? I think there's a five-bladed razor out there now! One day, we're going to have this yard-stick long razor you run over your face once and leave bone and gristly. You'll never need to shave again!
More marshmallows in our Lucky Charms™ (they're magically delicious!)? I don't know. I can't remember. Man, it's driving me nuts!
I'm going out tonight "with the boys". We're having dinner and then seeing V For Vendetta. The last movie we all saw together wasn't all that good in my humble opinion (Ultra Violet). I don't know anyone who actually like Ultra Violet.
After the movie, I'm supposed to pick up my sister, Karen, from the airport. She's coming in on Northwest flight 1514 at 10:32pm. I have to go to the Albany airport and pick her up because her husband, Rod, is having "a procedure" done today.
Karen wouldn't tell me what "a procedure" is other than he can't drive for a day or so after it occurs. I know for a fact Rod was "fixed" a long time ago, so it can't be that. I guess I'll never know. It's like, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie-Pop™?"
There are just some things mankind is fated not to know. At least I'm fated not to know them, in the case of Rod. I'm sure Rod knows... and possibly even Karen -- his wife.
We have friends who are missionaries in Cameroon, Africa visiting on Friday night. I'll have to put all my booze and porn away for their visit (just kidding.... I'll leave it out for them to enjoy too.... Mwa haa haa... just kidding again...).
I've known the woman, Yezmin, since I was a freshman in college. Wow. Twenty-six years! Barb (I mean Evil) has known her longer. They have the most interesting stories to tell, as you can imagine. A lot of their stories have to do with just *being* a missionary and cultural stuff.
Brittany just phoned me. She's been accepted into Moody Bible Institute! Wow. What a terrific kid. She did very well this year in school (Schenectady County Community College), but she wants to go to Moody now.
Moody's tuition is free (zero dollars and zero cents). However, you do need to pay for room and board. Still, it's a good deal cheaper than schools that are less-than-free. Brittany's going to study teaching English as a second language. I hope it's a good experience for her.
Brittany really needs to get out of the house for a bit. She (being the Evil Overlord In Training or the OIT for short) has conflicts with Pure Evil herself ooccasionon. The conflicts primarily focus on When-Is-A-Good-Time-To-Mess-Up-Evil's-Kitchen-By-Baking-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies and the like. Still, I think the OIT will enjoy "being on her own some."
No fear, Bekah is becoming more Evil every day. I will get to enjoy many, many more years of burgeoning Evil in my house.
I'm excited!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Door Technology
At work, I open the door with this 1980's technology slider card. I mean, we went to proximity cards at Microsoft in the mid-90's and that was late. Amici had proximity cards when I got there, but here at the bank, we're still in the 80's per door technology.
Regardless, the door usually opens on the second or third try, so I'm fairly happy. I think some kind of super-duper magnet holds the door closed. You can't jerk the doors open. Those magnets are powerful!
I've never had a door "lock" on me going out. I get near it, the motion detector does its job, and I am able to leave. Not in all the many years I've been using magnetically sealed doors have I been sealed in.
I think that's pretty good. Door technology must be fairly mature. You never hear about door technology. Who writes, like in the Wall Street Journal or something, about the latest breakthroughs in door technology. "Nobel Scientist, Robert Smarts, invented a new door mechanism...." You just don't see that.
Why not? What makes door technology so mundane and uninteresting? Who, in fact, works on door engineering? I've never met a door engineer, "Hi, I'm Ben and I work for an engineering firm making magnets for doors...." Where are they?
Bekah had a tooth pulled yesterday. It was an infected baby-tooth with an abscess. They're going to have to put in a spacer for the adult tooth to have a place to grow. We had a orthodontist examine Bekah last week. She's gonna need a lot of work.
They told us to feed her ice cream last night. I think she enjoyed going hog-wild with ice cream for once. However, Bekah can't use a straw or spit. Why can't you spit or suck through a straw when you have a tooth extracted? That seems strange to me.
Regardless, the door usually opens on the second or third try, so I'm fairly happy. I think some kind of super-duper magnet holds the door closed. You can't jerk the doors open. Those magnets are powerful!
I've never had a door "lock" on me going out. I get near it, the motion detector does its job, and I am able to leave. Not in all the many years I've been using magnetically sealed doors have I been sealed in.
I think that's pretty good. Door technology must be fairly mature. You never hear about door technology. Who writes, like in the Wall Street Journal or something, about the latest breakthroughs in door technology. "Nobel Scientist, Robert Smarts, invented a new door mechanism...." You just don't see that.
Why not? What makes door technology so mundane and uninteresting? Who, in fact, works on door engineering? I've never met a door engineer, "Hi, I'm Ben and I work for an engineering firm making magnets for doors...." Where are they?
Bekah had a tooth pulled yesterday. It was an infected baby-tooth with an abscess. They're going to have to put in a spacer for the adult tooth to have a place to grow. We had a orthodontist examine Bekah last week. She's gonna need a lot of work.
They told us to feed her ice cream last night. I think she enjoyed going hog-wild with ice cream for once. However, Bekah can't use a straw or spit. Why can't you spit or suck through a straw when you have a tooth extracted? That seems strange to me.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Stupid Blogspot
I just spent 20 min writing a nice post, and it's gone. Apparently, you can't spell-check without losing your entire stupid post.
What a waste of time.
What a waste of time.
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