seagull nips crisps

A seagull in Scotland has developed the habit of stealing chips from a neighborhood shop.

The seagull waits until the shopkeeper isn't looking, and then walks into the store and grabs a snack-size bag of cheese Doritos.

Once outside, the bag gets ripped open and shared by other birds.

The seagull's shoplifting started early this month when he first swooped into the store in Aberdeen, Scotland, and helped himself to a bag of chips. Since then, he's become a regular. He always takes the same type of chips.

Customers have begun paying for the seagull's stolen bags of chips because they think it's so funny.

There are clips of Scottish news broadcasts on You Tube about it - quite funny.

D

working, working, working...

It's all I've been doing for weeks now. It will be over soon though, so that's good.

I can't believe it's September 26th and I went swimming - a few times actually. It's 91 degrees, which I totally adore as you well know. But, sitting in one place with a stupidly hot laptop on your lap causes one to melt. The pool is graciously refreshing in those situations.

Unfortunately, Millie wasn't interested in joining me in the pool. The heat hits her kind of hard and it would've been nice and cooling for her. She did, however, patiently suffer through a cool bath.

Because I've had so much to do work wise, the other kids have been chillin' (kinda literally) in the air conditioned bedroom.

Otherwise, things have been pretty quiet since I haven't had much time to get in, or cause, any trouble. " class="middle">

D

just working...

I haven't had time for much at all lately, just been working my tail off. I'm maybe about half way done with my project...perhaps a little less actually.

I took some time off Friday to go and visit my grandparents. My grandmother's birthday was Friday and I really wanted to spend some time with her. I was the only one of us grandkids that did, so I'm pretty thankful I took the time to do so.

Tweak hasn't quite understood that a dog barking on the TV doesn't necessarily mean there's one behind the entertainment center. She's been fun that one.

It's been in the 80's the past couple of days and I think it's been taking a toll on my old gal. Millie's been lethargic, not wanting to do much and sleeping a lot. At least I'm hoping it's just the heat that has her feeling that way. I asked her today if she'd stay with me for another 5 years. I could only be so lucky to have her with me for that much longer.

And that's all the time I have for myself my friends - back to work for me.

D

weird weekend

I think I left the house a total of 3 times over the weekend. Once to get coffee, once to hit the store, and the final time to have breakfast at the little diner down the street.

Compared with the last, oh, I don't know, 2 months, that's hermitville. I needed time to decompress, time for myself, time to catch up on the 8 loads of laundry I needed to do.

And it was great! I got *all* the laundry done, read a shitload, and actually even cooked a couple of meals for myself - something I haven't really had the time to do lately.

The kids haven't seen this much of me since I had surgery and *couldn't* go anywhere for a couple of weeks.

At the same time, I was pretty darn lonely. I haven't felt that way in a long time so I just went with the flow. It was weird. *Really* weird.

I could've done any number of things - 3 different friends had their 3 different bands playing Friday night. I could've went down to the Vineyard to visit my friend who's up from NJ (if I hadn't lost the phone number of where she's staying), I could've called any number of people and gone out.

I chose not to. I knew I needed time alone after such a busy summer and soon enough it will be time for me to hibernate due to winter. This weekend was a good way to get used to it, get into the swing of things for the next season of life. There are a few things left to do before hibernation becomes official - a couple of fairs I want to go to, apple picking, Oktoberfest. All fun stuff.

The summer is over. I think we're supposed to have a few warm days this week, in the 80's, but that will probably be it. Time to close up the pool, put the summer clothes away, and settle in for a long winter's nap.

D

I am not broken.

There is nothing WRONG with me and I wish people would accept my thoughts instead of arguing with me about them.

Seriously. They're my thoughts, in my head, and I'm pretty sure I can voice them without help, thank-you-very-much.

What the hell are you talking about, you're asking.

Children. That's what I'm talking about.

I'd like to see the human being rule books that state all women MUST want to have children. I missed that chapter and apparently I'm about as good as a leper because of it. (Yes, lepers have feelings too!)

I missed the part that said having something the size of a cantaloupe shoved through a body part the size of a kiwi should be my life long dream.

I also missed the section that said giving up your entire life as you know it to produce said offspring made you a better person.

I don't get warm fuzzy feelings thinking of taking a screaming infant into a supermarket or restaurant. Nor do I get those feelings thinking of me covered in spaghetti-o's because junior just learned to flick food.

The lack of sleep, of which I'd *never* make up, does not have me all googly eyed at the prospect.

I should not be defined by wanting or not wanting to have children!

I know many women who *shouldn't* have had children, we all do, or have heard of them or read about them.

Which is better? One would think simply stating their preference to sustain from procreating would be a billion times better than having children and not giving them everything they need to grow up healthy, well mannered, intelligent, and not an asshole.

Wouldn't you think that?

But no. I'm instead looked at like Medusa - a horrific expression of disbelief, fear, and total lack of understanding mingled on their faces.

Sigh.

I recognize that my opinion might change. I don't happen to think so since it's been a pretty solid one for the last 17 years. However, I am a woman and I have the right to change my mind in a micro-second without telling a soul. Having your monthly menses does that to you.

(Don't believe me? You do it. Just once even, then come back and tell me it doesn't give me that right.)

So, I can see that I may, one day, fall deliriously in love at some point and truly feel the need to pop out a tiny representation of that love.

It could happen.

I think I may just want to go on vacation to Australia or some white-sanded beach with see-through cerulean water, drinking some fruity alcoholic concoction on a beach and having mad, passionate sex to celebrate that delirious love, but whatever.

Don't judge me because I don't fit what you think I should.

You go have a baby instead. I triple dare ya.

D

a moment

I have just a moment to quickly type out all of the things on my mind. Just a moment should be enough, but you can never really tell.

Years ago it took just a moment for people to realize the situation had turned from incredibly awful accident to deliberate terrorism.

I'm sure all of the loved ones left behind would give their right arm for just a moment with their lost beloveds.

I'm also sure all of the victims would've traded anything in the world for just a moment before they died.

There was just a moment between fire in the sky and ash on the ground.

You can never really tell when just a moment will impact your life forever.

And that was just a moment.

D

Brian Rowe

First tho', I *finally* caught up on homework! Just in time too since I have to create a 765 page web collection in 2 weeks.

Anyway, I was thinking of that list I mentioned before. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to write. I'll get to it, but right now I'm having writer's block. It'll come to me eventually.

However, the subject line is another thing from my past that I thought of recently. Brian Rowe. That subject is probably one of the very few things in life that comes closest to an actual regret.

I don't regret anything I've done, even if it was wrong. Even if I knew it was wrong. All of those things, good and bad, have made me what I am today. Without them, I wouldn't be me and I like who and what I am today. But I digress.

Brian Rowe was a boy I knew in junior high school. He was really cute and super nice, as far as I can remember anyway. We dated for a while, during that innocent time when I didn't really know what that meant. Y'know, when holding hands made you blush and you had only heard what french kissing was. (I think that's different than kids today...)

Anyway, I really liked him. Unfortunately, I didn't have the courage to stay with him.

I had a friend at the time, Danielle, that had a lot of... opinions. When she found out who I was dating, I never stopped hearing how bad he was, how he wasn't good enough for me, he wasn't tall enough, he wasn't, he wasn't, he wasn't. I didn't have the courage to stand up to her, after all, she was my friend, right? She was looking out for me, for my best interest.

Riiiiight.

I broke up with him for no good reason. I never really talked to him again. I think his parents were divorced and he moved away with one of them. I have a hard time remembering it all now. I do remember his brother, who was in a grade above us, was still at school until he, too, moved away.

Danielle and I didn't stay friends long. I realized, too late for Brian, that she wasn't that great a friend.

Anyway, I've always wondered what happened to him. I never got a chance to say I was sorry. I never got a chance to explain that I just didn't know who I was, that I didn't have the courage to tell Danielle to pound sand. I shouldn't have listened to her, obviously, but I did. It's something that I *still* feel pretty crappy about.

I wonder what would've happened if I had. Would I have lost a friend? Would it have mattered? We probably would've broken up over some silly fight that kids break up over anyway, but still.

I could justify it or excuse it as me just being young, not knowing enough about life, succumbing to peer pressure, insert-excuse-here.

But I won't. I did a stupid thing. I take responsibility for my actions.

Years later I learned from it, which is a good thing. Although still crappy, it wasn't a total waste.

I'll always wonder what happened to him. And I'll always want to say I'm sorry.

D

Ahhh the week is here...

Call me crazy, but I'm thinking life is getting a bit too much when you start to look forward to work because it'll be quieter. Just a thought.

The cookout was good, one might even say great. Of course, one was so busy trying to talk to everyone and getting stuff for people that one doesn't quite remember just how it was. The 22 oz bottles of homemade Drunken' Dreams beer, of which I had 4, were also partly responsible for the lack of memory towards the end, that and the couple of regular size beers I had before them.

As I've been told a few times, at least I wasn't going to get arrested between the back yard and my bed. I mean, it's still quite possible, but less likely.

Sunday was recoup day. I woke up and slowly made my way around the house cleaning stuff up. After a few hours, I had the recycling where it was supposed to be, the extra beer in the fridge, and all the dishes in the sink. Then it was nap time, which I took while floating in the pool. (I used the float that is hard to fall off of.) After nap time I attempted to do some homework. Not surprisingly, I wasn't completely successful and soon gave it up for watching mindless TV.

Monday I drove down the Cape and spent the day on the beach with Sarah. After hours in the sun, we walked back to the house and started grilling for Nana and Fran - two of the greatest old ladies I've ever had the pleasure of meeting!

I like old people. Like 'em much better than kids. So sitting around answering the same questions 5 or 6 times in a 15 minute span is actually enjoyable to me.

While listening to some of the advice Nana had, I started thinking about my life. I've done some pretty cool things here and there, met some pretty cool people, had some pretty great experiences. Oh, and I got a great tan while at the beach.

I've decided I should probably share some of that stuff so I'm going to put together a list and eventually get to the stories behind it. Some are short, some longer, and some you probably had to be there for. But, I thought it would be neat to get them down in writing.

But not today. Right now I'm tired and my bed is screaming my name. That and Millie's at the bedroom door whining to get in so she can go to bed.

D

passwords...

How many passwords do we each have? Have you ever stopped to think about it?

At work, I have access to about a dozen servers. For each server there's probably two username/password combinations. Then there's mail, phonemail, intranet, and about two dozen other applications.

I actually have a little database that keeps track of all my passwords. Of course, it's password protected, which just adds to the list.

There are 83 passwords stored in it - just for work stuff. Then there are all the passwords for home - email, my server, my SQL database, blogger (which I still use to leave comments), alllllll the websites I have an account at - all of banks, credit cards, B&N, Amazon - you name it, I probably have it. (Unless your mind is in the gutter, then I don't. )

Someday I'll collect them all just to see how many I have. I'm sure I'll forget some though.

I think what amazes me the most is how many of them I have memorized. How can I keep them all in my head? Along with all of my memories, knowledge I've learned over the years both school-wise and life-wise. Think about how many phone numbers you can rattle off the top of your head.

It's pretty amazing if you stop to think about it.

I woke up this morning to a crystal clear pool. I need to get in there and vacuum, but otherwise it's like the algae experiment never existed. With as many chemicals that were thrown in there this week, I'd be surprised if you didn't come out radioactive. The really scary part? What I did was a mere fraction of what the water treatment plants do to our drinking water.

I'm kinda having a hard time over there being a tournament today and me not being there! I'm usually available for every tournament so it's kinda bugging the shit out of me to miss it! I know the cookout will be fun and soon enough I'll be so brilliantly busy that I won't even remember there's a tournament going on. Until then, however, it's killing me to sit here talking about it and not be there doing it. Killing me!!!

I know I'll just have to drive down to it tomorrow and get a small fix. Holy crap! I'm addicted to flyball!

I guess there are worse things...

D