You can skip over this post today, if you like. I'm just going to gripe. These are listed in no particular order other than how my brain is ordering them.
1) My right knee really hurts this morning. I've taken aspirin and rubbed Ben Gay into the knee. My office is going to an afternoon White Sox game and the prospect of sitting for 4 hours at a baseball game is not appealing.
2) I'm really blasé about going to this. Last year, we went to the Kane County Cougars and that's lots of fun plus there's more leg room. One of the guys in the office rammed this idea through. I know. I know. I don't have to go, but it looks bad.
3) It's supposed to rain...again...yet...still. I can't put down the top on the Jeep because I've been sick and the weather has been bad. In previous years, I've had the top down for weeks already. It's June, for Pete's sake!
4) The catalytic converter needs to be replaced and I got a notice that the emissions need to be done. Well, the converter needs to be done BEFORE I get the emissions done or the car will fail. I don't have $700 to fix the converter.
5) I don't have enough to cover the bills this month. I looked at where my tax refund went. I used $400 to go to Seattle but the rest, and it was a chunk, went to survival. How is anyone making it? And the governor of Illinois wants an income tax increase from 3 to 4.5%. Everything has gone up except what I bring home.
6) I don't have any flowers planted in pots on the deck or in front of the house. I always do that. I can't this year. I don't have the money. I need to repaint the deck. I can't. I can't afford to buy the paint.
7) I'm still (pardon my french) bloody sick and I'm bloody sick of being sick. Getting better has been in very, very small steps forward.
8) The dating service sent me another name and I can just tell it's not someone in whom I'm going to find a friendship. I got the name on Monday and he's not called. I call him tomorrow so I can honestly say I attempted contact.
9) I have ants in the kitchen again, those itty bitty, less than one eighth of an inch long things. Betsy is such a messy eater that's why. It's just frustrating.
10) Carole's not coming for a visit. She's decided to save her money and stay in Seattle. I understand and it does make things a bit easier on me, but I miss her and sort of looked forward to her potential visit.
I think that's it for today. I need to wash spoons. I have to run over to PetSupplies Plus when we get back from the game. I am out of cat food.
Beverage: water
Deb
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Music and the word "get"
Today, I brought music to the office. I have very little to do so I might as well do it to music.
I don't know if you are familiar with www.pandora.com. It's called the "Music Genome Project". You make a "station" of the kind of music you want to hear and, from their vast archive, they select music based on either a genre or an artist. It's kind of similar to Project Gutenberg. I have two stations, Nat King Cole and Old Blind Dogs. The former is vocal jazz in the style of Nat. They play too much Tony Bennett, particularly the newer stuff, which I don't like. The latter is traditional Scottish music a bit more uptempo. This station taps into Celtic music and I've been exposed to groups I wouldn't have found otherwise. They have added my other favorite Scottish group, The Tannahill Weavers. The nice thing about this station is you rate the music you hear. If you are familiar with Yahoo Music, it's the same way. A "thumbs up" or a "thumbs down" gradually teaches the program to play music you will like.
I would love to listen to it at work. But, our network has bans on certain kinds of content. No YouTube, as a for instance, and, unfortuately, no Pandora. According to a memo, too much bandwidth was being devoted to gaming and video and music streaming. I do know of one guy who plays a certain game I haven't discussed, yet, at the office during lunch hours, but I've not added that game to my computer. There are other game sites, like AOL games, that I can visit if I really need a game fix.
The office is really quiet when most of us are out in the field. The phone has not been ringing a lot lately so the ambient sounds of the AC coming on and people entering the building and going to the job service office on the second floor as well as the traffic on busy Roosevelt Road to the north of the building are all you hear. I decided today I would bring in my tunes. I've listened to OBD's "Fit?" and I currently have the soundtrack from "Good Night and Good Luck" in the player. Yes, Pandora is linked to Amazon so if you want a certain CD after hearing a few cuts from it, you can order it. I dislike ordering from Amazon. I get 95% of my jazz from the Jazz Heritage Society.
There's that word, "get". I've been pondering this word for a couple days now. A blogger I read announced on Sunday that he's "getting" a divorce. I "got" a divorce in 2001. It's what we say, but you can also "get" sick or "get" caught in traffic or "get" chicken pox. You can also holler at a spouse in the kitchen, "Honey? I'm off to the store to 'get' BBQ sauce and buns for the hamburgers. Do you need me to 'get' anything else?" Somehow, using the word to mean the action for obtaining hamburger buns diminished the hugely life-changing event of a divorce.
But is there another option, a better synonym? Not really. You could use "procure" or "obtain" but that sounds ridiculously stilted. "The Marquis de Bleau 'e Fungi obtained a divorce from his 4th wife." That does sound like something the monied do, not us real people.
I'm not sure what the word is to encompass all that "getting a divorce" implies. I often think, as many words as there are in the English language, there aren't words that specifically cover a feeling or emotion or action. This is one of those times. "I'm getting divorced." Three words that have years of emotion attached to them.
I think I'll get out one of my Benny Goodman albums. His peppy clarinet is something I get. And, at lunch, Jon and I will go get office supplies since we're out of file folders. In the meantime, I need to get some letters written.
Beverage: Black Currant tea
Deb
I don't know if you are familiar with www.pandora.com. It's called the "Music Genome Project". You make a "station" of the kind of music you want to hear and, from their vast archive, they select music based on either a genre or an artist. It's kind of similar to Project Gutenberg. I have two stations, Nat King Cole and Old Blind Dogs. The former is vocal jazz in the style of Nat. They play too much Tony Bennett, particularly the newer stuff, which I don't like. The latter is traditional Scottish music a bit more uptempo. This station taps into Celtic music and I've been exposed to groups I wouldn't have found otherwise. They have added my other favorite Scottish group, The Tannahill Weavers. The nice thing about this station is you rate the music you hear. If you are familiar with Yahoo Music, it's the same way. A "thumbs up" or a "thumbs down" gradually teaches the program to play music you will like.
I would love to listen to it at work. But, our network has bans on certain kinds of content. No YouTube, as a for instance, and, unfortuately, no Pandora. According to a memo, too much bandwidth was being devoted to gaming and video and music streaming. I do know of one guy who plays a certain game I haven't discussed, yet, at the office during lunch hours, but I've not added that game to my computer. There are other game sites, like AOL games, that I can visit if I really need a game fix.
The office is really quiet when most of us are out in the field. The phone has not been ringing a lot lately so the ambient sounds of the AC coming on and people entering the building and going to the job service office on the second floor as well as the traffic on busy Roosevelt Road to the north of the building are all you hear. I decided today I would bring in my tunes. I've listened to OBD's "Fit?" and I currently have the soundtrack from "Good Night and Good Luck" in the player. Yes, Pandora is linked to Amazon so if you want a certain CD after hearing a few cuts from it, you can order it. I dislike ordering from Amazon. I get 95% of my jazz from the Jazz Heritage Society.
There's that word, "get". I've been pondering this word for a couple days now. A blogger I read announced on Sunday that he's "getting" a divorce. I "got" a divorce in 2001. It's what we say, but you can also "get" sick or "get" caught in traffic or "get" chicken pox. You can also holler at a spouse in the kitchen, "Honey? I'm off to the store to 'get' BBQ sauce and buns for the hamburgers. Do you need me to 'get' anything else?" Somehow, using the word to mean the action for obtaining hamburger buns diminished the hugely life-changing event of a divorce.
But is there another option, a better synonym? Not really. You could use "procure" or "obtain" but that sounds ridiculously stilted. "The Marquis de Bleau 'e Fungi obtained a divorce from his 4th wife." That does sound like something the monied do, not us real people.
I'm not sure what the word is to encompass all that "getting a divorce" implies. I often think, as many words as there are in the English language, there aren't words that specifically cover a feeling or emotion or action. This is one of those times. "I'm getting divorced." Three words that have years of emotion attached to them.
I think I'll get out one of my Benny Goodman albums. His peppy clarinet is something I get. And, at lunch, Jon and I will go get office supplies since we're out of file folders. In the meantime, I need to get some letters written.
Beverage: Black Currant tea
Deb
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Unbiased, sort of, report
Okay, I consumed the contents of the Twizzlers bag. I realize any company needs to completely reevaluate what it produces to see if an upgrade is needed. But Twizzlers needed to talk to me first. The ONLY flavors with ANY sort of taste were the strawberry and the blue raspberry. Everything else, orange, lemonade, watermelon and grape could have been mango, banana, lime and plum for all I could tell. No flavor beyond something vaguely fruity. Save your pennies. Buy a plain old bag of strawberry Twizzlers (if you can't find the chocolate ones). You're welcome. I do this so you don't have to.
Beverage: Black Currant flavored tea. No, really, it's very good.
Deb
Beverage: Black Currant flavored tea. No, really, it's very good.
Deb
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Oh my!
Just go to this link. Just go. Do it. You too will say, "Oh my." This is a case of not understanding the consumer to which this was marketed. It should not have been designed to actually work. They should have just made them and sold them as novelties.
New from the candy aisle, at least new to me, Twizzlers Rainbow Twists, the original twist licorice in fruit flavors. How do you want your sugar today, with the flavor of strawberry, orange, lemonade, watermelon, blue raspberry or grape? I will have to conduct full taste tests and issue my report once the bag is empty, which might be Friday.
And Hershey bars were on sale so microwave s'mores, here I come. Yes, I would very much rather have the marshmallows charred over an open fire but it's just me. I'll be happy with the nuked ones.
I had to go to the grocery store to get tuna, chicken and chicken baby food to get Rascal eating again. Lunch was a large tossed salad. My allergies must be getting better because I could taste the poppyseed dressing.
And the other question you want to ask me, I have very little to do, so I'm catching up on my eclectic web sites.
Beverage: cold assam tea. If I want it hot, I have to walk to the microwave. Meh, I'll drink it cold.
New from the candy aisle, at least new to me, Twizzlers Rainbow Twists, the original twist licorice in fruit flavors. How do you want your sugar today, with the flavor of strawberry, orange, lemonade, watermelon, blue raspberry or grape? I will have to conduct full taste tests and issue my report once the bag is empty, which might be Friday.
And Hershey bars were on sale so microwave s'mores, here I come. Yes, I would very much rather have the marshmallows charred over an open fire but it's just me. I'll be happy with the nuked ones.
I had to go to the grocery store to get tuna, chicken and chicken baby food to get Rascal eating again. Lunch was a large tossed salad. My allergies must be getting better because I could taste the poppyseed dressing.
And the other question you want to ask me, I have very little to do, so I'm catching up on my eclectic web sites.
Beverage: cold assam tea. If I want it hot, I have to walk to the microwave. Meh, I'll drink it cold.
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