February 03, 2002
New tools
I'm on the hunt for a cable connection to the wonderful Internet! I'm going to buy a cable modem. I think it would be cheaper in the long run. AT&T will sell you a modem for $199, but I've found some for half that. Plus AT&T as a new user's offer for $25/month for 6 months. I need to get rid of HBO and my Audible subscription. My monthly fee for dialup went up 3 bucks. I should get rid of that, too. But I might need it for backup. Or I'll just switch to Netzero or something.
Then I need to get a scanner. Probably this one but the cnet review says it doesn't scan slides and negatives well which is what I need it for mostly.
There's also this thing. But both are pretty pricey so I dunno.
Then I need to upgrade the old Compaq with more memory and voice recognition software, so my mom can use it (if indeed she ever will). But for some reason that machine won't boot.
One of the things I did today was attach the old HD to the new machine. I was going to try a dual boot because my A+ book made it sound easy. Well, it wasn't, but I didn't really pursue it because I didn't want to screw things up. I was trying to retrieve my books database from the old HD. I created it in Quattro Pro 7, but QP7 won't run on XP. And I couldn't retrieve it into StarOffice in QP7 format. So I was going to go into Win95 and convert the spreadsheet to something StarOffice would read, but I couldn't get the the old machine to boot. I can read the old HD when it's setup as a slave drive on the new machine, but that doesn't help me.
So anyway, I discovered that I had the file on the new box, so I just imported it into WordPerfect (which works on XP although QP does not for some evil reason) as a table. Saved it as an MS Excel spreadsheet. Then I imported that into StarOffice and ureeka! it worked. Whew! All that messin' with the old drive for nothin' and now it won't boot. I might have the jumper settings wrong. But I got my books spreadsheet in an accessible format, so yay!
I visited campmor looking for a balaclava, but found a bunch more stuff I want.. hmm.. decisions.. decisions...
Executive Desicion is a rather chilling movie to watch in light of 9/11.
I got these Creative speakers for my new machine and when I play DVDs there's this wierd sound on the soundtrack kinda like a audio ghost. I don't really know how to describe it. I don't know if it's the speakers or the sound card or the DVD player or what.
Posted by denise at 10:52 AM
Home Alone
So, my mom went to this church thing and I had the house to myself for a couple of hours. First thing I did was go to Albertson's and get some French bread, some string cheese, a scone, a donut (chocolate with sprinkles), milk (chocolate) and a couple of cokes (diet). Then I came home and ran on the treadmill for a little bit. That felt good! (I actually wrote "ran on the treadmill for a couple of hours" argh!). Then I realized the reason it was so hard was because my mom had the incline up. Ok, it wasn't that hard. Then I cranked up my digital jukebox and swept and mopped the kitchen floor. After that, I fired up the microwave and nuked some clam chowder (New England) that I had with my cokes (diet). Then I watched the Executive Decision DVD while doing some online shopping, balancing my mom's checkbook and munching on my French bread, string cheese, scone, donut (chocolate with sprinkles), and milk (chocolate).
Posted by denise at 10:52 AM
February 05, 2002
Snow!
It's been snowing since this morning. We have maybe an inch accumulation.
Posted by denise at 05:08 PM
February 24, 2002
Vanity search!
Posted by denise at 03:58 PM
Vanity search, Part II!
And since when am I an expert on gout.
Posted by denise at 04:03 PM
April 02, 2002
Flu
So I spent all of Easter with the stomach flu or something like that. Got one day off from work during which I answered email and played around on the internet.
Ok, I guess I need something more substantive, but last night when I had something more substantive, blogger wasn't working. Besides what could be more substantive than playing around on the internet?
Oh yeah...new shampoo says it reduces frizz by 95%. It lies.
Posted by denise at 07:15 AM
April 17, 2002
Tornado!
Today was a great morning for a ride.
But the really big news is that we had a tornado last night! Thanks to John for the picture.
Other big news is that I tried out for Jeopardy! last Friday, but more about that later.
Posted by denise at 06:56 AM
April 18, 2002
Blog Bits
- I hate when I open Blogger and forget what I intended to write.
- Gotta love The Rock.
- I need a pet. I miss visits to the vet.
- Isn't Chaos Theory just the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics taken to the extreme?
- What can I do for my hair that won't make me look like Carrot-top's twin sister?
- Lileks apparently ragged on the Star Wars re-release and fan-boys didn't like it. As a result he receives a deluge of e-mail every time it runs in a paper somewhere.
- Whenever I look at KaZaa traffic I find someone downloading things I didn't know I had: like Twofish's "Deep Bass 9" and The Alchemist's "Cooldown and Stretch"
Posted by denise at 08:15 PM
April 19, 2002
Exercise in Frustration
Went to the store this morning to pick up some Zone bars on the way to work. Had to make it quick, but the lady in the only-open checkout lane had a cartful of groceries. So knowing I'd be late I trekked back to pharmacy to put back my bars and left. On my way out the door I noticed how they'd opened another lane and the woman who'd been waiting in line behind me was already through. I expressed my anger with a firm, hard slam of my car door. Showed them, I did.
Posted by denise at 10:43 AM
7th anniversary for OKC
Today is the 7th anniversary of the bombing in OK City. Also the USS Cole returns to duty.
This sort of puts my morning grocery store frustration into perspective, that is exceedingly unimportant.
Posted by denise at 10:45 AM
June 05, 2002
Cheesy preacher music
NPR has disappeared. So this morning I've listened to Swindoll and Jeremiah instead of Diane Rehm. David Jeremiah is on Focus on the Family, also...double-dose of him today. He's talking about living with cancer. People today don't die from cancer as much as they used to maybe, but people live with cancer as Dr. Contreras tells us.
Wow, 6 hours later and I finally remembered what I intended to write this morning: Why is it radio preachers have cheesy theme music that sounds like it was composed for 70s TV?
Still trying to make this thing substantive. Still failing at it.
Posted by denise at 12:02 PM
Needs substance
How's this for substantive?
Literature as escapism or entertainment is not necessarily a bad thing. Art speaks to that unquantifiable part of us - our soul & spirit - can make us happy when we're sad or vice versa. It can change our thinking - change our lives.
No, huh?
Posted by denise at 01:44 PM
Hanukah
I usually listen to NPR in the morning and KCBI in the afternoon. It's all good, right, except for one guy, Woodrow Kroll, who's kind of religious and old school. I usually just tune him out. I suppose I could change the station, but he's on a half-hour between 2 programs I like and I just don't feel like bothering... Anyway, yesterday, he's talking about John 13 and the Feast of Dedication. The Feast of Dedication is Chanukah. For some reason I never thought about Jesus celebrating Chanukah. But of course he did. I wonder what presents he got.
Posted by denise at 02:26 PM
July 09, 2002
Friends in low places
Lileks just compared Picasso to Garth Brooks. argh.
Posted by denise at 04:48 PM
July 14, 2002
Mongeese for nil, Alex!
I've written this 3 times now. First in my head where it stayed for weeks and suffered considerable file degradation. In desperation, then, I backed it up (so to speak) in longhand on paper while at work. (Yes, I have a computer at work but it's not like I'm going to write in the computer where just anyone can read it...sheesh.) Then I typed it into my computer when I got home. Consequently, who ever reads this has to read it 3 times. Thank you.
So, Jeopardy... In February, I signed up online to audition for Jeopardy. Then about March, I get a call at work. "You've been selected to take part in our Dallas contestant search!" Wow, cool! I was informed that I would receive a flyer in the mail and that I should bring this flyer to the Hotel Adolphus at 11 am on April 12 as my ticket to admission.
The fateful Friday arrived. The Adolphus is smack in the middle of downtown Dallas. I've lived in this part of the world all my life, but downtown Dallas is like a whole other country. I parked at the hotel and was surprised by the valet. (AAUUGGHHH!! The Valet!!!) Of course they had valet parking. I hadn't thought of that. I surrendered my car and made my way into the hotel lobby. The Adolphus is a 5-star hotel, so I took a few minutes to wander around the lobby and take in the sights. Apparently the Queen and Prince Philip stayed there once.
We had to come to the try-out in clothes we'd wear on the show so I found the restroom where I could change from the casual clothes I wore to work. I made my way to the mezzanine floor and discovered a long line of people with orange Jeopardy fliers. While I waited, I overheard people who'd prepared by playing Trivial Pursuit everyday. Some played the online Jeopardy game. Some found other sources of trivia to quiz themselves on. This conversation made me slightly nervous. It never occurred to me to prepare at all. I watched Double & Final Jeopardy everyday at break time but that's it. Then I decided that if it's not in there already it's too late.
The wait turned out to be short. A woman (who reminded me of my college dorm mother and who's name I don't remember) opened the testing room and took up our flyers as we entered. We passed a table containing Jeopardy pens & pressed board lap desks. I took one of each and found a seat. Dorm Mom passed out an personal info sheet we had to fill out while another coordinator gave us the welcome spiel and then showed us a video of Alex welcoming us to the tryout. We all felt very welcomed.
Then we proceeded to take a short answer test of about 50 questions. The questions were Jeopardy type questions and were projected on the screen. The whole video operation was run from a Dell laptop, btw. We only had to write our answers in the form of an answer. This test was designed to purge the unworthy. I found some of the questions hard, some easy and I left about 3-4 questions blank. I think we had an hour to do this then the coordinators took up the tests. All 3 left the room to grade them. We were not allowed to discuss the test. When they returned they announced the names of those who'd passed. Out of a room of 30-40 people only 6 passed the test. None of the people who'd "prepared" were numbered among the 6. Fortunately, I was. Whoopee!
So then, the 6 of us (twice the Trinity or half an apostolic complement. You decide.) played a mock version of the game. First Dorm Mom took polaroids of us to go in our files. She joked that people told her that she should work for the DMV because she took such terrible pics. Heck my driver's license picture is better than the one she took. I never look like that.
Anyway I was in the 2nd trinity to play. I played along with the first group as I do when I watch TV. All seemed well; I was feeling good about it. Then it was my turn to stand on the mark and as soon they put that clicker in my hand, all knowledge was sucked from my brain and I entered a parallel universe in which my IQ was about 40.
Dorm Mom gave us instructions about how to use the clicker. As soon as the moderator finished reading the question little yellow lights around the screen would come one and that was our cue to ring in. Early clickers-in were penalized with a 30-second delays. Of course by that time it would be too late to get in on the question.
I only remember one question under the category Plurals. I missed the first one in the category because I thought too hard about the plural for mother-in-law. But I rang in quickly on the next one. Answer: Mongoose. Me: "What are mongeese?"
Someone had to say it and the Fates determined that it would be me. (The plural of "mongoose" is "mongooses.")
It's all a blur after that. I think my chances at getting to play on the actual show are nil, but good luck to John & Krista and the other 3 people who made the final cut.
You'd think at this point that my adventure would be over, but I still had to bribe the valets to get my car back. First I changed back into my casual clothes and went in search of an ATM since I had no cash on me. The friendly people at the desk told me an ATM could be found katty-corner across the street. No problem. Got my money. Came back to the hotel. Finally found where to pay for the valet parking, then waited a few short minutes for my car to arrive. The guy who drove the car seemed to hesitate as if waiting for a tip. I wasn't really sure what to do and wasn't in the mood to tip anyone anyway, so I just drove away. Sorry valet guy!
After that back to work and...freedom.
Posted by denise at 08:40 PM
July 27, 2002
Blogathon 2002
Yipe! I almost overslept!
Posted by denise at 08:02 AM
I've hardly started and I'm finding it hard to stay awake. I do have things to write, really I do. But first breakfast!
Posted by denise at 08:31 AM
I put in my contacts, so at least I can see the screen now. Still not awake though.
Posted by denise at 09:00 AM
Visit this blog also blogging for the ADA.
A blog in Welsh. Interesting! Too bad I can't read it and find out what they're blogging for.
Posted by denise at 09:10 AM
Ack! I can't keep up!
Posted by denise at 11:57 AM
Here's a .jpg of that Rossetti painting, "The Annunciation." I like it for it's realistic approach. (.jpg is taken from the Artchive.)
Posted by denise at 01:28 PM
Wow. The person next to me in the Blogathon ring is writing about nothing but chocolate.
Posted by denise at 01:54 PM
Ok, Linda said writing about celebs with diabetes wasn't cheesy so here's another one:
Stephen Furst, the inimitable Vir Cotto, aka Dr. Elliot Axelrod, aka Fish/Trout/Toad/whatever he was in Animal House. I've never seen Animal House so I don't know. Someone clue me in...
Posted by denise at 02:29 PM
Link of the half hour
This link is rated G.
Posted by denise at 03:44 PM
Ok, it's time to break out the vacation stories.
One thing I did on my vacation several weeks ago was to find the gravesite of Lee Harvey Oswald. I knew he was buried in a cemetary not far from here, I just didn't know exactly where. So of course I began my search on the web, and, yes, there is an entire site devoted to Oswald. (One of several sites, I can only assume.) I was somewhat familiar with the cemetary since I have family members buried there so following the site's map wasn't a problem and finding the grave was relatively easy. I was still surprised when I saw it, though. Starting out on my quest I felt a little excited as if I were going on a treasure hunt, but when I found the gravestone I only felt sadness, sadness for his little girls, his widow, his mom and all of us, really, for that awful thing he did. It was sobering to stand there and think of what happened nearly 30 years ago and to think how we've only just begun to heal.
Posted by denise at 04:24 PM
Another place we visited on holiday was the Cowgirl Museum. Quite an interesting place. It was started years ago, but only just recently attained a facility to house it's collections of costumes, accoutrements and memorabilia. I was surprised to learn that Sacajawea was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame as well as the Ingalls women of "Little House on the Prairie" fame.
Posted by denise at 06:01 PM
We also took a final ride on the historic M&O subway. It runs from the parking lot on the Trinity River in downtown Fort Worth to the Tandy Center. It's being closed because Radio Shack is moving it's corporate offices from the Tandy Center to the area where the parking lot is now. We walked through the Tandy Center as well and it seemed like a ghost town, a nice place to get mugged. Eh, it's dead I suppose and with Radio Shack moving out, I guess it will go completely.
Posted by denise at 06:29 PM
Now it's time for LAUNDRY!
Posted by denise at 06:34 PM
Yay, supper!
(leftovers, woo.)
Posted by denise at 07:03 PM
KWIK! Think of something to write!
Posted by denise at 07:30 PM
Between August 1985 until August 1987, I lived in Switzerland and worked for the French-speaking Church of Christ in Geneva.
Posted by denise at 08:00 PM
Amazing. I've been blogging steadily for 12 hours now. I'm also reading e-mail, chatting and surfing. Strangely though I haven't listened to that much music or watched any TV, but I plan to watch a couple of movies in a minute.
Well, ok, not a minute, literally, but you know...
Posted by denise at 08:31 PM
Posted by denise at 08:34 PM
So far to go and I'm already sleepy! AUGH!
Posted by denise at 09:01 PM
In researching people with diabetes it's amazing how many people die from complications of diabetes. What's even more incredible are the numbers of children who live with and grow up with the disease.
Posted by denise at 09:30 PM
Ok, time to break out the bike!
A propos of nuthin':
Zoom in:
(made by John)
Posted by denise at 10:02 PM
Ok, I have absolutely nothing to write here, except I can't sit in this chair anymore and there's ice cream!!
Posted by denise at 11:31 PM
July 28, 2002
I keep writing things and then deleting them as inappropriate or incoherent. It's MIDNIGHT!
Posted by denise at 12:00 AM
Had to remove my contacts, so this should be fun. Currently, I'm watching Vanished a church movie about the rapture.
Posted by denise at 01:30 AM
August 01, 2002
Blogathon ends
 Blogging for American Diabetes Association and (unofficially) for SA Cares for Life Big ups to my sponsors: Mom Linda John Anonymous Litres of water consumed = 3 Miles consumed on bike = 0 |
Blogathon 2002 is history and needless to day I did not finish. I hit the wall about 3:30am. Were it not for the fact that I had to work in the church nursery the next morning, I might have gone the distance. Thanks to my sponsors who donated anyway. You rock!
Just finished Elisabeth Elliot's Quest for Love. Excellent, highly recommended for singles. Also recommended: Jabez by Thom Lemmons, a great fictional interpretation of Bruce Wilkinson's The Prayer of Jabez. God doesn't bless us to assuage our lusts, but to meet our needs, restore us, and draw us to him. It was the audio version and was very well read by Jeff David (?), even if he did read a little too slowly for my tastes.
Posted by denise at 10:36 AM
February 02, 2003
Adventures in photography
So today's adventures included:
--Buying a coke and paper:
Sometimes on the way home from church I stop at this Texaco for a coke and a newspaper. It's kind of a weird place because they have those video slot machines and the magazine rack that includes titles like High Times and Cannabis. It's sort of a combination gas station and head shop. They put my paper in a black plastic shopping bag.
--Falling on my butt while taking photos:
I stopped on the way home to take some pictures of this old Chinese restaurant that had been closed because their dog was no longer fresh apparently. Behind the building was the railroad tracks and several railway cars were parked there, so I decided to look for some graffitti I could take pictures of up close. The good bits of graffiti were of course behind some trees. So I had to climb down this leaf-clogged culvert to get closer to the tracks and my subject. I got my pictures and was making my way back up the culvert when I stepped in a big hole covered by the leaves and down I went.
Posted by denise at 08:29 PM
March 29, 2003
A.D.D. Moment #97
I'm taking my groceries to the car, right? Open the car door, put in the groceries. Get in; start the car. Then decide I needed that Jakoda caffe latte thing I'd bought. Search through the bags. Find it! Then can't find the keys to my car. Look through my purse, in the seat. Where are my keys?
Oh.
They're in the ignition because I've already started the car!
Reminds me of the time I was driving down the highway and needed my sunglasses. They weren't in their little tray. Were they in my purse, in the seat? No. Rats. That means they must have fallen beneath the seat. So I pull over to look around on the floor for them and finally find them when they fall off my head as I'm looking under the passenger seat.
(And we won't talk about the time I couldn't find my sunglasses because I was sitting on them.)
Posted by denise at 09:20 PM
April 10, 2003
blog blog blog
Did a lot of tweaking to the blog and I've got it about like I want it, but how did it end up pink. I decided I'd add a blogroll to my links page, but when I got all the blogs entered, it wasn't half as long as I thought it would be. So I guess I have to fill it up with a bunch of blogs I don't read. Also, my godzilla.gif is still rough around the edges and I can't get the music to loop smoothly.
Who has time for this?
Posted by denise at 12:34 AM
April 12, 2003
Garage Sales
Today was the neighborhood garage sale, so today's haul included:
- stuff for eBay,
- a box of little red clay pots for candles,
- a Jerry Clower tape,
- a video of “The Mask” which I've never seen,
- some weird cds,
- 200 in 1 Electronic Projects Lab
- and a teddy bear for the church nursery.
And I didn't get to all the sales today. Why do weekends have to be so busy? Today's was better than last week's haul which gleaned mostly books:
- stuff for eBay
- a floppy drive for the computer I'm trying to build
- a modem for the same computer (who knows if they even work)
- Foreigner by C. J. Cherryh
- Moving Mars by Greg Bear
- One-L by Scott Turow (the book that inspired me to become a lawyer except I never became a lawyer...so...but I thought I might give it another read.)
- and a teddy bear for the church nursery.
If I had kids, man, garage sales would be the place to buy kid stuff.
I saw a video of the movie “Fair Game.” Hard to believe that someone wanted to own that movie.
Posted by denise at 12:48 AM
Yummy food!
This evening's adventures included going to the Tandoor to eat spicy, spicy lamb curry. Yum!
Posted by denise at 12:54 AM
April 18, 2003
Rip
AAAHHHH!!! There's a rip in the fabric of space-time! Wesley Crusher lost the great PC race!
Posted by denise at 12:00 AM
A.D.D. moment #123
I was going into the kitchen this evening to get my mom's medication while, at the same time, thinking of Wesley Crusher losing the Great PC race and instead of getting the medicine, started making myself a bowl of oatmeal.
That was very weird, actually. I only eat oatmeal for breakfast. I guess Wil Wheaton brings out the oatmeal in me. Or something.
Posted by denise at 12:15 AM
April 19, 2003
Milk
That would have been Sunday's headline if the stockboys at the grocery store had been successful in running me over. I went to the store early hoping to avoid the crowds only to be accosted by a phalanx of stockboys out for blood!
Posted by denise at 12:00 AM
May 04, 2003
Good news, bad news
First, ants: Some black and red ants set up housekeeping in our mailbox. I finally got out the bug spray and with a couple of shots they died with alarming speed. So the good news is that the ants are gone. Bad news is the mailbox is full of dead ants.
Second, OSC: I found a new site by one of my favorite authors, Orson Scott Card: Uncle Orson Reviews Everything. Consequently there's a link to this cool Rube-Goldberg Honda ad.
Posted by denise at 12:00 AM
July 23, 2003
Finally!
At last! I've finally got Movable Type up and working. First I had trouble getting my domain activated. Then I encountered several problems getting MT installed and running, but with a lot of help from the staff of Hosting Matters, it's finally working. They held the spike while I hammered and now this train is ready to roll!
Ok, bad analogy. Anyway, here's a list of cutesy category titles to help guide you through the morass.
Dullsville - my life
The Real World - Bible and church concerns
Cinephilia - movies
Machines Will Rise - computers, gadgets and this weblog
Bibliomania - books & reading
Geek-o-rama - all things nerdy, geeky and dorky
Enjoy!
Posted by denise at 06:49 AM
July 29, 2003
Finaglin'
So I got my server-side includes to work, but this layout leaves a great deal to be desired.
Posted by denise at 07:10 AM
August 02, 2003
Yee haw
I think I've finally whipped my blog page design into some semblance of order. Now I just need to work on the category and archive pages.
I dunno. I think it might look too busy. And uneven. Yep, it needs more symmetry.
Or something.
Posted by denise at 09:47 PM
August 08, 2003
Beasties
Found a tiny preppy lizard (you know pink with gray spots) in the bathtub today. I trapped it in a little pine needle basket with a lid and put it out in the flowerbed when I left for work. When I opened the basket outside, it seemed reluctant to leave. After minute or so of coaxing, it finally scampered out to frolic among the flowers unless, of course, it ran the other way and got crushed underneath the wheels of my car. Oh well.
Posted by denise at 08:00 AM
Stink
Driving home the other day I noticed an odd smell. I always get nervous when this happens because odd smells while I'm driving usually herald disaster. This time, though, I was smelling cows. I was on the outskirts of town, but there were no farms around. Yet, the manure smell persisted. It had to be my car. What could possibly make my car smell like cow pie? Then, several cars ahead, I noticed a cattle truck. It was going along at a good clip, so it must have been empty, but it was spreading cow stink all up and down the interstate. Don't they wash those things? I tried passing, but it was really hauling. There was nothing to do, but stay as far away from it as I could until I reached my exit.
Posted by denise at 10:19 AM
August 09, 2003
Hot! Then Not
DFW Airport recorded a record temp Wednesday of 109. The bank closest to the house showed 106 (or perhaps 108; some lights were missing.) We've had high temps all week, but today it rained and cooled everything off. Typical Texas weather. But unlike the Eueys, at least, we're used to it.
Posted by denise at 11:24 PM
August 11, 2003
Snacks
It's odd, but whenever I make a peanut butter and honey burrito, honey just drips all over the place. I don't get it.
Not only are we having a thunderstorm right now, it's hailing.
In August.
In Texas.
Posted by denise at 09:32 PM
August 24, 2003
Ch-ch-ch-changes
I changed 'Zilla's music from that Nike/Elvis song to the Hawaii 5-0 theme. It doesn't really work. 'Zilla's movements aren't synced with the music. Basically, 'Zilla don't got rhythm. Someday I'll work on the animated .gif so that it's smooth and all.
I also changed the visited link color from gray to green. My reasoning being: salsa => chilis => chilis are red with green leaves. (Yes, and sometimes, chilis are green with green leaves). Except my site isn't really red it's pink, so now I've got a pink and green website. I'm still living in the 80s, I guess.
Posted by denise at 09:26 AM
Grow up!
Rebecca's Pocket also had an interesting post about the infantilization of America, basically people who refuse to grow up. Read the article she links to also. It's a little disturbing.
I have to confess I still have some old stuffed animal toys laying around. Oh sure, I could put them in a box and shove it in the closet, but...they'd get lonely in there.
Posted by denise at 10:05 AM
August 26, 2003
Quick!
I made a promise to myself to write in this thing everyday. I actually have a lot to write about, but I don't have time to write it now. So quick! link to something.
Bah, the internet is boring today. Hey, let's try rollingstone.com... *yawn* When did pop music get so dull?
Well, ok, the Columbia investigation report came out today and blamed the NASA culture (whatever that is) as one of the reasons the shuttle broke up in orbit. This 2 days after History Channel aired it's special on the enginers working Mission Control during the Apollo program, entitled "Failure is Not an Option." I guess the NASA culture was different back then.
Oh yeah and Mars. It's the closest it will ever be to the Earth in umpteen years.
And that's all. I'm tired.
Posted by denise at 11:02 PM
September 02, 2003
Recipe
One-Two-Three Cookies
1 cake mix (any flavor)
2 eggs
2/3 c. oil
Mix ingredients together. Spoon onto cookie sheet, in spoon size drops. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Very good, quick and easy.
--SSG Diane Lawson
from "Better than MREs: 136 Tactical Airlift Wing, Hensley Field, Dallas, Texas, Family Support Cookbook 1991"
Posted by denise at 10:31 PM ~ Comments (1)
October 12, 2003
Weekend
So I've spent the entire weekend balancing my checkbook. Something I haven't done since, oh, March.
Posted by denise at 08:23 PM
November 03, 2003
Yipe
Posted by denise at 09:36 PM
November 05, 2003
Yolks
Did you hear the one about the duck that went into a bar, jumped up on a bar stool, and asked the bartender, "You got any grapes?" The bartender said no, and the duck left.
The next day, the duck returned and asked the bartender once again, "You got any grapes?" The bartender said. "No grapes!" The duck left.
The next day the duck came into the bar and asked the bartender, "You got any grapes?" The bartender said, "No! I don't have any grapes! I didn't have any grapes yesterday, I don't have any today, and I won't have any tomorrow! If you ask me again, I'll nail your feet to the bar!" The duck left.
The next day, he came back into the bar, jumped up, and asked, "You got any nails?" The bartender said no. The duck then asked, "You got any grapes?"
(Texas Monthly, January 2002)
Posted by denise at 11:52 PM ~ Comments (1)
November 20, 2003
Adventures in bread-making
One cool garage sale find this summer was a bread machine for $5. It didn't have a manual, of course, so I borrowed Aunt Flora's. She has a completely different machine, but I thought there couldn't be that much difference between bread machines.
I was wrong.
The first try was a complete bust. The ingredients just sat there because I didn't have the tub set down in the machine far enough, so nothing got stirred up.
So the second try I discovered the thing about shoving the tub firmly down into the machine, but this time the dough overflowed the tub during the second rise.
So I finally decided to half the ingredients. That worked perfectly.
Mmm...now the house is full of good yeasty bread aroma!
Posted by denise at 12:52 PM
November 28, 2003
Grateful blogging
All the other bloggers are taking the holiday off and actually taking time to spend with their families. Me? I finally have free time to update my blog! Woo!
Posted by denise at 06:16 PM
December 05, 2003
What update?
I said I'd update my blog during my vacation! What a riot!
Posted by denise at 03:38 PM
April 04, 2004
Spam a lot
"Free medication for Sin"
Now that's the kind of spam I'm talking about!
Posted by denise at 09:58 PM
'04
Twice today it was 04/04/04 04:04:04.
Posted by denise at 10:29 PM
May 03, 2004
Fun with numbers
My frustration with math began early. I remember in first grade when the teacher tried to explain to us the difference between a "number" and a "numeral". If I remember correctly (and I'm sure I don't), the figure "2" is a "numeral" and is only a representation of the abstract idea of the "number 2". Hooray for New Math.
So the next day she goes around the room and asks certain students to write "the number 4" on the board. I go up and write my "4" and sit down. Then she asks another girl to go up to the board and write "the number 4" and the girl says no, she can't because she can only write "numerals." At that point I distinctly remember thinking, "This is stupid."
Fast forward 35 years or so to the week before last. My friend from Indiana was visiting me and needed directions to the Super Walmart to run an errand.
Go down the highway, I tell him and take the Cooper St. exit south.
What number is that? he asks.
I don't know, I say, but the sign says Cooper St.
"Is it exit 443?"
"I don't know, but it also says Cooper St. in Big. Giant. Letters."
What's so hard about that? Do some people only see numbers or what?
Posted by denise at 07:32 PM
Visit
So John was supposed to be here early Thursday, April 22, but ran into a couple of delays getting his truck trailer hitched up in East Texas. So he got here Thursday afternoon. We took my car to Graff to get it worked on and then drove around Arlington. Then we came back ate supper, John was overjoyed to see the pecan pie, then fell asleep watching Rush Hour.
Friday, we got up and went to Glen Rose to visit the nuclear power plant and the dino tracks at Dinosaur Valley State Park. Right at the entrance to the park was an ocean of bluebonnets. I took a few pictures, but I know it won't do justice to 'em. We hiked around and took in the various track sites. Then we went home ate roast and watched Rush Hour 2.
Saturday was a trip to Dealey Plaza and the Sixth-Floor Museum. It's a very interesting place that museum. The window from where Oswald fired his fatal shots is walled off behind plexiglass and arranged more or less as the cops found it that day. It's a sombre place. Next we went to the Science Place to see an IMAX movie, "Adrenaline Rush." That was a great experience too. Then on the way back we picked up my car. (We'd paid for it on the way to Dallas.) and then we picked up barbecue for supper. Colter's barbecue is not bad.
Sunday was puttering about with computers. We also went to Fry's to look around.
John stayed Monday and ran errands, got a new LCD monitor from Fry's, he'd seen the day before and reorganized his truck. Then he left Tuesday as I was leaving for work.
So all in all it was a good visit.
Posted by denise at 08:49 PM
May 09, 2004
Overheard:
It's Mother's Day and I'm in the grocery store looking for a card. It's me and 5 guys browsing through the leftovers when a couple of teenage girls approach and one says: "Oh my God, look at all the procrastinators! Awright!"
Yeah, Happy Mother's Day to moms everywhere from your loving slackers.
Posted by denise at 10:43 PM ~ Comments (5)
May 10, 2004
Visit to Wichita
Arrived in Wichita with no trouble. Went to church as soon as I got here. Saw Greg Carr from college and a couple of other people I'd met here before.
So Thursday 5/6 we went to lunch at this sandwich place, Panera, which was pretty good. Went to the orthdontist so that Emily could get her retainer adjusted. Then we went to Botanica which was pretty nice and we also saw a squirrel up close.
Then it was back home to get ready for The Concert.
The Concert of the Century.
It was a pretty good concert. Live performances are always fun. Josh has a great voice and put on a great show. He's coming to Dallas in August, but that's an outdoor show. Who was drinking when they came up with that idea?
Friday-
We ran some errands for the girls then headed out to the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson KS. We passed through the little Amish town of Yoder and saw a couple of genuine Amish buggies.
The Cosmosphere was great. They've taken great pains to collect and restore a lot of Space Program artifacts. They've organized them in a compelling display as well, telling the history of the US space program beginning with Werner von Braun and Hitler's V-2 rocket program. There's almost too much info to take in.
So after the Cosmosphere we went back to catch the River Festival parade which wasn't so much long as it was interminable.
Saturday-
So Saturday was the last day of my visit. I stopped at the OKC Memorial on the way back. I thought it was just going to be a slab of marble with a plaque on it, but the memorial emcompasses the entire blast area. It's a huge, beautiful place.
It was raining by the time I got to Fort Worth and I decided to take 820 thinking it would be shorter, but it wasn't and I took the wrong exit and got a little lost, but found my way back to 820 and finally got home.
The End!
Posted by denise at 08:50 PM
July 16, 2004
Blog redesign
Redesigned and renamed the blog. "Cinnamon salsa" was just lame and was making me cringe every time I saw it. Plus it has a certain pr0n taint. I thought of "The Salsa Review," but I'm not really all that fond of salsa. Not really keen on food that inflicts pain. I'm biting the food. The food shouldn't be biting me. Then I thought of "The Chocolate Review" or "The Sugar Review" because I actually like chocolate and sugar, but again there's that unsavory taint of smut.
[long, long description of my thinking process deleted.]
So I finally decided on "vewwy, vewwy quiet," since it pretty much describes my life and how often I'm probably going to updating this thing.
And it's still the most influential blog in my house!
Posted by denise at 10:24 PM
August 03, 2004
Quote of the Day
"Ok, a number 5 combo with a large Diet Pepsi. Anything to drink?"
--Taco Bell drive-thru
Posted by denise at 06:47 PM ~ Comments (1)
December 25, 2004
Noel
Merry Christmas, everybody!
Posted by denise at 09:31 AM
January 01, 2005
Happy New Year!
They say what you do on New Year's Eve is what you'll be doing all year. So this morning I spent an hour & half in bed reading. We had New Year's Day lunch: black-eyed peas, cornbread, meatloaf and salad. Then we took down the Christmas lights. Then more internet reading. (I love Bloglines!) Watched some old videos I recorded from 1999(!). I also have about 10 videos I recorded from the 2002 Winter Olympics and have never watched since. So, out they go! Then I spent a few hours upgrading my journals and blogs. I should probably throw them out too.
Posted by denise at 06:29 PM
March 13, 2005
Hey, y'all
Proof that I remember stuff I learned in high school. (via truegrit)
| Advanced You scored 100% Beginner, 93% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 72% Expert! |
You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score.
|
My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|
| Link: The Commonly Confused Words Test written by shortredhead78 on Ok Cupid |
Posted by denise at 09:24 PM
April 16, 2005
Ciao!
| Your Inner European is Italian! |
You show the world what culture really is. |
(via Church of the Masses)
Posted by denise at 02:18 PM
April 25, 2005
The excitement's startin' early!
A tornado showed up today over the Miller Brewery. They must have tossed it a six-pack because it left without doing any damage.
Anyway, Florida Cracker posted some great dramatic photos of West Texas weather.
Posted by denise at 11:07 PM
May 04, 2005
Finally some fun around here
Fireant Gazette and Cowtown Pattie are running a couple of Name-That-Album-Cover Contests. I got the Jethro Tull one, but the other two have me stumped.
UPDATE: Ok, Eric revealed the full album cover in his game: Elbow Bones and the Racketeers. Never heard of 'em.
Posted by denise at 11:14 PM ~ Comments (1)
May 10, 2005
19 minutes, eh?
"Sweep, Swiffer, or vacuum the [kitchen] floor (two minutes)." Ok, one of those minutes would entail finding the broom or mop or vacuum and in the case of the vacuum emptying out the basket thingy would require another minute or two.
I think 19 minutes is wishful thinking. But if it was 30 minutes would it really cramp my style?
Posted by denise at 10:21 PM
Adoption
Yesterday, NPR had a truly heartwarming/heartbreaking story about a single white woman's decision to adopt an African-American baby.
Posted by denise at 10:29 PM
May 28, 2005
In Memoriam
A couple of weeks ago, I lost a dear family member. I've only just now been able to talk about it. On top of the shock of this sudden death is the knowledge that I was the cause. It was completely my fault and it could have been avoided, if I'd only been paying closer attention. For the rest of my life I'll have to live with the knowledge that I carelessly, accidently washed by handheld with a load of laundry. And it died a sudsy, soapy death.
Notice the screen. Not only is it discolored, but also cracked. That was some spin cycle! The good news is it was a refurbished one, so I'm not out a lot of money.
Posted by denise at 11:52 PM
June 06, 2005
Photos Off the Top
Bonnie of Off the Top posts some beautiful photos. This one is truly eye-catching.
I'd post a comment over there, but Blogger wants you to sign in with your Blogger account. I have a Blogger account, of course, but that blog is old and buried deep, deep within the Blogger archives. And it's going to stay there.
Posted by denise at 10:36 PM
June 14, 2005
Stuff
For some reason, MT-Blacklist had recently begun blocking all URLs posted in comments, including mine. So I did a reinstall.
The good news is now everything seems to be working as it should.
The bad news is now my blog is getting pinged within an inch of it's life by some poker site (well, actually several.)
But the good news is I don't see any of those trackbacks appearing anywhere on the site, so maybe Blacklist is doing it's job.
Except I'm getting a ton of e-mail as MT is setup to send an email informing me of each and every ping.
UPDATE: I did have to go through Blacklist and delete each ping even though I didn't see anything on the blog. I think we're all squared away now.
-----
Totally useless, but funny site: kittenwar.com
Posted by denise at 11:22 PM
June 30, 2005
This 'n' That
Blogging secret hack (sorry, forgot, everything's a "hack" now): If you blog around midnight you can get a couple of days posts done in just a couple of minutes.
I know, I know. Sometimes my brilliance just amazes.
In other news, looks like the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington is a done deal. All the final papers were signed today. I'm not sure when they'll start tearing down residences and business, but I'm sure that's any day now. I plan to photoblog the whole process.
Also in the Done Deal Department. The city is going to let Wal-Mart go ahead with it's new store about a mile down the road from here. A lot of people don't like the idea because it's going to make this quiet part of the city very unquiet. Me, I don't think I mind so much. Traffic will be a killer and the nice, soothing, rural vibe over here will go away, but, hey, a Wal-Mart less than a mile from my house--not too shabby.
Posted by denise at 10:31 PM
July 03, 2005
A Chance to Say No?
Last Tuesday, James Lileks reported this exchange with a store clerk:
Did you find everything you were looking for? asked the grocery store clerk. I brightened. Finally! The chance to say no!
"Alas. You were out of Frosty Paws and my favorite ice cream. Frozen novelties let me down."
I don't know what I expected - sympathy, a coupon for ten cents off rutabaga, an urgent jotting down of my damning indictment. Nothing. They're interested in your answer, but apparently only in a general, well-how-about-that sense.
That same day I went to Fry's Electronics and as I approached the counter to check-out the clerk says, and I quote, verbatim, "Did you find everything blah blah blah blah blah?" I had to laugh. Yeah, he was smart-aleck, but he had a point. That question is the retail version of "How-are-you-I'm-fine", though perhaps not quite as meaningless. Most people aren't shy when given a opportunity to complain about customer service.
Except me. I had not found everything I was looking for. I did not find the mic or the scanner I'd been looking to buy, but I did pick up a CD of Tetris games I didn't even know existed until I walked in the store. So it's all good.
Right?
Posted by denise at 11:06 PM ~ Comments (2)
July 04, 2005
Happy Fourth Everybody!
I know. I should write a moving, heart-felt essay on the wonderful freedom God has given to us, but blestwithsons and Shrode of the Thinklings do a better job of it than I ever could!
Enjoy!
Posted by denise at 09:36 PM
July 11, 2005
Links
Robert Cringely has plans to not only podcast, but videoblog as well. I'm looking forward to "NerdTV", sounds fun and will be a great follow up to "Triumph of the Nerds" and "Nerds 2.0.1"
My old former college room-mate, Linda, has revitalized her blog, Exasperated. It's all about home-schooling, scrapbooking and going to places that I don't get to go to (like Disneyland). Check it out!
Wittingshire has beautiful flower photos (as usual) and don't miss the wonderful essay following on the Ring of Power.
Posted by denise at 10:03 PM ~ Comments (1)
July 23, 2005
Saturday Links
I mentioned the other day that I'd scooped up the first 5 Harry Potter books at the grocery store. I've only read the first few chapters of "The Sorceror's Stone," but I've found a couple of good analyses of the series: 1) Mark D. Roberts encourages us to use discernment when reading Harry Potter. 2) Jonathan at "Toward an Evangelical Mind" also has a wonderfully reasoned analysis of the Harry Potter books.
I'm not the only one buying Harry Potter at the grocery store. Kevin at Collected Miscellany thinks selling books at the supermarket is a bad idea for book publishing.
Where I'd like to be right now: The Yukon!
"Starting books is the new speedreading." No kidding. The Gospel of Life looks like a book I need to put on my to-read list.
"[W]e are nowhere close to filling up the planet." Dan Edelen, a sustainable-living practitioner, makes some sane points about statistics thrown about by the current green movement.
Posted by denise at 09:31 PM ~ Comments (2)
July 30, 2005
Quote of the Day
"In your pursuit of your passions, always be young. In your pursuit of relationships with others, always be grown up."
--Tom Brokaw, commencement address to the 2005 graduating class of Providence College.
Posted by denise at 12:11 PM ~ Comments (4)
September 21, 2005
Blog update
Hey people (the 2 people who read my blog)!
I'm trying to update my blog. I have a lot to post about Katrina and all. I've journaled it, but haven't blogged it. Some friends of my mom (and my friends, too, of course) were killed in a terrible car wreck Sept. 1 and that's taken the wind out of my sails a bit. But I want to blog about them in tribute because they were great people.
Right now I'm trying to move all my bookmarks to del.icio.us and, my gosh!, I've got a buttload train-load of bookmarks. Where'd they all come from?! Sheesh.
And lastly, I have to go in for a lovely, wonderful endoscopy in a couple of weeks which is a pain in the rear. It's nothing serious, just a check-up. Sometimes I think doctors just make stuff up. Oh well, it could be worse and it's not.
Posted by denise at 10:12 PM ~ Comments (6)
September 25, 2005
Article annoyance
I'd bookmarked this CNN article for future reference:
CNN.com - U.S. Mint seizes priceless coins - Aug 25, 2005
Less than a month later, the article's gone. (Although it's still available on the FoxNews site.) I hadn't noticed any articles disappearing from CNN.com before. Some much older articles are still there like this one about the 2000 campaign and this one about an exploding rocket from 1998. Only thing I can figure is that the two old articles are CNN stories while the one on the gold coins is an AP story and CNN only archives their own stories.
Posted by denise at 09:11 PM
More lizards
So yesterday, another lizard fell from the garage door as I was opening it. This one didn't fall so close me as the one before. It scurried under the car and was never seen again...until the next time it climbs up the garage door waiting for me to open it. It must be warm up there or something. The day one of those falls on my head, I'll scream like a girl. Oh wait, I am a girl, so that's okay.
The other day I was walking through the shadowy dining room and saw a tiny baby lizard on the floor. It was so still, I thought it was dead. I walked right up to it and tapped on the floor behind it to see if it would move. Nothing. So I touched it lightly on the tail. Turns out it was just trying to hide in the middle of the dining room floor. It scurried away into the plant room...where it belongs, frankly.
And stay there! Creepy lizards sneaking up on me all the time...
Posted by denise at 09:25 PM
October 04, 2005
Blog repair
Oof. While de-spamming my blog last week, I ran up against a few problems rebuilding the comments. After finagling the comments tags for a while with no luck, it finally dawned on me to look at the MySQL database. Everything looked good from what I could tell, but the comments table had "In Use" next to it. I didn't know what that meant, but I thought clicking "Repair database" might help it. And it did! Hurrah! I guess something zigged when it should have zagged when I was deleting spam. I'm going to blame it on the spammers anyway.
Posted by denise at 09:16 PM ~ Comments (2)
Fall fruit
I can't read this blog. It makes me hungry! Is an apple pie post in our future? We hope so, plus it would be less fattening than an actual pie here at Blue Sky HQ.
Posted by denise at 10:49 PM ~ Comments (1)
October 16, 2005
Small fare
My mom tells this story on my dad:
My dad went in for a colonoscopy (several years ago, now.) One of the things they insist upon is that you bring someone to drive you home because they put you to sleep for the procedure and that makes you too impaired to drive the rest of the day. For some reason my dad didn't think this was important, so he didn't ask anyone to drive him, he just drove himself. (My mom is legally blind and doesn't drive, but she went with him, of course.)
After the procedure he calls a cab, has the cab drive around the block, then gets in his own car and drives himself and my mom home without incident.
The cabbie was a little miffed.
Posted by denise at 10:48 PM
November 07, 2005
Tags and spam
I can't get these stupid, darn Technorati tag things to work.
And I'd like to wish the most ickiest Biblical death on all spammers and certain telemarketers.
Thank you and good night!
Tags: stupid, darn Technorati tags - Sisera - Jael
Posted by denise at 12:08 AM ~ Comments (2)
November 12, 2005
Snow, please
I wouldn't mind being in the Yukon right now because, frankly, it's still hot down here.
(Yes, I'm breaking my number one rule: Don't complain about the weather in Texas. It's pointless. The complaining, I mean.)
Posted by denise at 02:13 PM
November 13, 2005
Sunday links
Geek alert: Babylon 5 scripts now available! All 92 scripts in 15 volumes! The first volume is now available for 40 bucks from Cafe Press! w00t!
I was looking for a zip code today and came across this helpful site, AreaConnect. If offers a lot of useful information for your town or any town you plan to visit.
Local Arlington people build an all-concrete house. (subscription)
Wil Wheaton accidently killed WWdN, so now he's blogging at WWdN: In Exile. I consider myself an avid WWdN reader, but he's been in exile for 3 months and I'm just now learning this.
Posted by denise at 08:39 PM
November 18, 2005
True Confessions
Barb over at Church of the Masses has posted a Confession meme similar to the Dirty Secrets meme Julie did awhile back. So instead of writing up the 3 or 4 posts I have in the pipe, I'm going to be lazy and post this meme.
I confess I think Howard Stern has beautiful, blue eyes (otherwise, he's an obnoxious jerk.)
I confess I still love all my Duran Duran records.
I confess I do not like Anne Coulter even though I'm a conservative. She's smug and condescending.
I confess I use the word "a$$" occasionally...only to myself of course. I wish it was not considered a vulgarity. Then I would use it often without impunity. OTOH, "a$$" might be "gateway" profanity. If I start calling everything "a$$", pretty soon I'll move on to the harder stuff.
I confess I don't get Moby.
I confess I nearly always drive over the speed limit.
I confess I'm a big fan of Pat Boone.
I confess I sometimes watch DVDs on my laptop on the way home from work, but I don't really remember what I watch because my attention is divided between the movie and the road. (Imagine that.)
I confess I'll never confess to the Big Stuff on my blog. (I mean really.)
Posted by denise at 11:09 PM ~ Comments (5)
November 25, 2005
Black Friday
Is it called Black Friday because retailers are in the "black" by the end of the day, or because it takes 10 hours to find a parking spot at the mall?
Just wondering.
Posted by denise at 09:04 AM
December 11, 2005
Flying Carpets
We had our carpets cleaned last week. (Not the same as having your clocks cleaned, believe me.) So between moving all the cr@p out of the rooms to be cleaned, waiting for the carpets to dry and then deciding to rearrange my workspace, I haven't done any blogging. Or even much blog-reading. But I think I'm back on track as of today. Try to contain yourselves.
My geek cred took a small hit this weekend as I did not go see "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" on opening day. I'm going to wait a few weekends. And speaking of Narnia, LaShawn Barber has a interesting new blog at Fantasy Fiction for Christians.
Posted by denise at 10:36 PM
December 24, 2005
Easy Christmas Tree
We have a fake Christmas tree.
Every year, I drag the box out from the garage and try to set the thing up. The base doesn't go together very well. There's always a couple of branches that won't attach to the central pole. And the branches are prickly and painful and that's annoying.
So this year, I thought I'd just save some time and pain and leave the tree in the box.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
Posted by denise at 11:48 AM ~ Comments (5)
December 29, 2005
Difficult Christmas Tree
For those of you worried that I actually wrapped Christmas tree lights around a box and called it a tree, here's our actual tree (only less blurry):
Or, I was just celebrating Festivus!. Yeah, that's it!
Posted by denise at 10:04 PM ~ Comments (2)
January 07, 2006
Looking Out for the Kids
If you've got kids you might want to check out mapsexoffenders.com. Enter your zip code and see how many registered sex offenders live in your neighborhood. I was shocked to find out how many live around my local elementary school! Familywatchdog.us does a similar thing, but I had trouble getting the map to load.
Yet another great use for Google maps.
Posted by denise at 09:55 PM
May 30, 2006
Lileks buys a car
James Lileks bought a new car last week and I'm a little concerned.
Now, of course, I barely know the man, but he runs one of the most well-designed, pleasing-to-the-eye websites, ever, and I read The Bleat nearly everyday. But still, why should I care about what car he buys. Because he bought one of the ugliest cars ever made, the Honda Element. It's so ugly, it makes me cry every time I see one on the road. Lileks writes that someone compared it to a Soviet Ice Cream Truck. No. The Soviets had more style. Actually, I think it was a car built for Asimo and then Honda decided to try to sell it to actual people.
But then he mentions that the car has XM radio. Well, okay. Having experienced the joys of XM radio myself, I'll cut him a little slack. Satellite radio is God's gift to the bored commuter. It's got everything from old music to new music to news to radio drama, nearly any audio you could ever want without the inane commercials or the constant repetition.
Faced with a choice between a Honda Element (which I keep wanting to call a Fifth Element) with XM radio or a Jaguar with boring terrestrial radio...oh, heck yeah, I'd get the Jaguar. I mean, please...
James Lileks Honda Element Jaguar Asimo
Posted by denise at 10:13 PM
June 10, 2006
Fried Dill Pickles
Dew on the Kudzu has posted a recipe for Fried Dill Pickles. Yum! Makes me hungry for Fried Green Tomatoes and Beer Biscuits.
Technorati tags: fried dill pickles, fried green tomatoes, beer biscuits
fried dill pickles fried green tomatoes beer biscuits southern cooking
Posted by denise at 07:58 AM ~ Comments (2)
July 20, 2006
A few things
- PBS broadcast a couple of episodes of the behind-the-scenes documentary about Windsor Castle: A Royal Year. It's a castle, palace, art gallery and working farm all in one. Fun fact (for scale purposes): Windsor Great Park occupies 15,000 acres. The King Ranch covers 825,000 acres.
- Today is the 37th anniversary of the first moon landing.
- It's pointless for me to mention this since it's been slashdotted, but Mike J. Nelson, former host of MST3K, is doing his own DVD commentary tracks via a new project called RiffTrax. The tracks are $1.99. Payment through PayPal. I've already purchased mine. The payment and download is relatively quick and seamless. The first movie is Roadhouse which is one of my favorite bad movies.
A couple of weeks ago I was all excited about the new Townhall.com site. Now I have to rein in my good thoughts about it, because, apparently, there are no RSS feeds anywhere on the site. The lack of that particular technology seriously cripples Townhall.com. Hopefully they'll correct that in the near future.- Um, never mind... Townhall.com RSS feeds on the way!
Technorati tags: Windsor Castle, Apollo 11, Rifftrax, Townhall.com
Windsor Castle Apollo 11 Rifftrax Townhall com
Posted by denise at 10:12 PM
August 07, 2006
Soothing
After all that 'Net surfing, I need a place to relax, some place like Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, where I can sit and think about Nothing. :)
Ahhhhhh.....
(Click on the photo for a better view.)
Technorati tags: Lake Louise, Banff National Park
Lake Louise Banff National Park
Posted by denise at 12:16 AM
September 13, 2006
Because you have too much time on your hands...
The Fancy Pants Adventure: a great flash game with cool graphics and groovin' music.
UPDATE: Mr. Fancy Pants chews up a LOT of memory, so I probably won't be playing this game much.
Technorati: Armor Games, fancy pants
Tagjag: Armor Games, fancy pants
Posted by denise at 09:57 PM
September 21, 2006
10 Things I Learned From My Parents
I'm starting a new meme. Well, I suppose it's new. Somebody else may have thought it up, already.
10 Things My Parents Taught Me.
- My mom taught me to sew and cook. (But I still had to take Home Ec in school, which really annoyed me.)
- My dad taught me how to shoot a gun.
- My mom who worked as a secretary taught me how to type. (But, again, I had to take typing in school, which really annoyed me.)
- My dad taught me how to handload a rifle shell.
- My dad also taught me how to bait a fish hook with a worm or a minnow. (But I was never any good at fishing.) :/
- My mom taught me how to write my name in cursive when I was in first grade, but the teacher wouldn't let me do that in class because we weren't supposed to learn that til 2nd or 3rd grade. (Public school was always holding me back!)
- My dad gave me a life-long love of the outdoors.
- My mom gave me a life-long love of reading.
- My dad taught me how to work hard and to stick to something until I finished it.
- My mom taught me her cherished faith in Jesus which I will strive to keep and pass on to others for the rest of my life.
I now tag Gwynne and Linda and anyone else who'd like to participate. :)
Posted by denise at 11:59 PM ~ Comments (4)
September 24, 2006
Family Stories
While poking around in Rootsweb.com looking up genealogical information, I came across this story about the naming of two of my father's aunts, Aunt Noda Mae and Aunt Sister:
"The 1910 census also revealed that Noda Mae had not been named at the time the census was taken and she already passed her first birthday. This seemed to become a habit because Mary Virginia was not named until she began school. The parents were forced to give her a name or she wouldn't be allowed to attend. Up until then, everyone just called her "Sister." Genny said that she heard that the school teacher gave her the name. Aunt Veda said that Sister named herself."
Apparently, the name "Mary Virginia" never took with the family because I don't remember my dad ever referring to her as anything but "Aunt Sister" (or rather "Aint Sister".)
I've found several entries on Rootsweb with familiar family stories, but I don't recognize the name of the poster. It's odd to think a "stranger" knows my family stories. I guess it's better to think of them not as strangers, just cousins I haven't met yet.
Posted by denise at 11:08 PM ~ Comments (3)