night owl

I'm naturally a night owl. If I don't have a schedule to follow, I'll stay up late and wake up late. Guess who's going back into her night owl ways? :)

The dogs are a little off schedule with that as their morning routine is later than normal. They don't seem to mind all that much, which is good.

The bad part about being home all the time is that I can hear just how many times the heat goes on during the day. Yikes!! Trust me when I say you don't want to know how often it is on these really cold days. I'm not even turning the heat up either, just letting the programmable thermostat take care of it like it normally would. I do have a blanket in the office tho' to keep me warm as I waste time on FaceBook. Damn site.

It's 12:36am and I'm watching Paranormal State. I probably shouldn't watch ghost stories before bed but they aren't scary at all. I love the gay medium, he's the absolute best!

I saw a commercial for the movie Taken today. I want to watch it but I'm afraid there might be some startling moments and I need someone with me to grab on to if I get scared. I can't stand scary movies by myself... my imagination really is that good. :p

The funny part is I used to *love* to get scared. I used to watch scary movies in the dark. My father would come up behind me and startle me during a really intense moment. I would, of course, scream and then start laughing - I loved it! Now, not so much. I have no idea why it changed.

The business website is coming along pretty nicely. Most of the products are loaded in. I have to create the navigation and test the credit card integration. I am not storing any credit card numbers, I'm sending them all through PayPal. I don't have the knowledge or experience to safely keep that stuff so I'm leaving it to the experts.

I'm not sure how I worked a full-time job with all the appointments and stuff I have going on. Sheesh! Today I went to the eye doctor, tomorrow I have that outplacement thing-a-majig, Wednesday is something I can't remember. Ugh.

I'm off to go read a bit before bed.

D

house stuff

I rearranged my desk and tossed everything that was on it on the love seat. What? The desk is still clean! Anyway, I started going through the piles of piles (because I'm quite the piler) and I found a bunch of post its stuck together that I haven't seen in a while. Ok, fine, they were lost in one of the piles, happy?

I wrote down a list of all the things I wanted to do to the house right after I bought it. Actually, I think I started the list when I was walking around with the house inspector. Regardless, I've been adding to it and crossing things out over the years.

House list

tile bathroom floor
replace toilet
replace bathroom sink
add garbage disposal
rip up living room rug
install flashing
install gutters
insulate attic
replace floor registers
replace wall intake cover
replace broken toilet paper holder
replace sections of deck
install pool
remove wallpaper in bedroom
replace screens
install Atrium screen
replace back door
replace pipes under kitchen sink
replace stove
replace kitchen floor
replace rotted wood in Atrium door
add door to office
get gate for deck
get 1/2 door for cellar - NO
dryloc cellar - NO
replace locks
replace ripped screen (cellar)
replace ripped screen (front door)
install programmable thermostat
add fencing section
plant trees
extend sump pump hoses
rewire house
replace bathroom switch
replace kitchen and office ceiling fans
add closet doors
fix under deck (yeah right!)
fix fence near wall
add fence blocking driveway
new baseboard
paint bedrrom
add baseboard
install fireplace
rip off bathroom tile
rip off kitchen tile
replace motion lights
add wainscoting to bathroom
replace soffit
add heat/ice melter on roof
paint kitchen
refinish LR baseboard
clean cellar
replace hinge on big kitchen door
add threshold in living room
build bookcase in living room
install attic ladder
replace kitchen window
build closet
add cellar door
add motion light for the back door
add outlet in attic
replace cracked vinyl siding
install hot tub

All in all I think I've done pretty good over the last 4 years. Just giving myself a pat on the back.

D

lunch...

I have an appointment in my phone for 12:30pm tomorrow. Lunch @ Bamboo. I have no freakin' clue in the world who it's with. I hate my phone calendar. If it's with you, please let me know.

I did pick up a planner to keep on my desk tho'. I knew there was something else I was supposed to get but couldn't remember what it is - until I got home, of course. Yup, the good old wall calendar. One could ask why I feel the need to have two planning devices. The reason is simple. I'm a freakin' moron. Or did you not figure that out from the 1st paragraph?

Ash has been doing really well on his training. I swear, there's no way better to bond with a dog than training him or her. I love him, but I'm starting to love him even more now. Training rocks. Since I have the time, I'll try to capture more of his training on video and post it online.

I'm still struggling with the stupid website. I can't get the cart to connect to Joomla properly. Looks like tomorrow will be spent combing through the forums on each of the software sites trying to find a solution. So much for it being online by the end of the week. :p Damn thing. I think I'm getting closer though.

I have no plans for the weekend and I'm going to try and keep it that way. Instead, I think I'm going to try and clean this dump. The living room is the only room partially under control. I rearranged my desk yesterday and I feel so much better about this little area. Now I just have to do something with everything I took off the desk. :p I think the shredder is going to get a huge workout. I have to get this place under control because even *I* can't stand to be here. Plus, I don't have work to escape to anymore. :p

I have some web stuff in the works, some sites that have been started and will soon be finished. Just in time to add them to my portfolio before looking for another job. If you know of anyone looking to have web work done, send them my way.

I had lunch today with a co-worker that I wasn't able to hook up with before leaving. We didn't talk about work *at all*, which was really nice. Instead we talked about her husband being on TV, how her kids are doing, how the business and the dogs are doing, etc., etc. It was good and I hope we stay in touch.

Now that I have some time off, I'm trying to figure out when I can get the time to go on a few small trips. I definitely plan on spending some time in NJ, that's a given. But I'm also trying to schedule a trip to MI to spend some quality disc time with Ron & April. It's a really long drive so I don't want to just go for a weekend but a little longer. With flyball tourneys every other weekend in Feb, I think it'll be tougher than I thought to find the time. Maybe my new planner can help me figure it out. :)

My brother is leaving for Florida tomorrow. I stopped by his new place tonight to pick up a key so I can feed her. I'm not sure I knew he had a cat before this trip. Apparently he picked her up from the shelter over a year ago. Her name is Abigail. I don't know if my not knowing about her shows how bad a communicator my brother is or how bad a sister I am for not asking. Probably both.

D

it's the wish, not the word

I don't belong to a mainstream religion. I also don't sneer when someone says "God Bless You" to me.

I don't get offended when someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Easter or any other religious holiday saying.

It's not the words that are important, it's the well wishing that are behind them. Who cares what specific words are used? I don't.

That was my conclusion after watching the inauguration of President-elect, now President, Barack Obama. It was a weird kind of segue, one that I'm not sure I can even explain.

I thoroughly enjoy listening to him speak. He captivates me with his unique style and concise pronunciation. He could be reading a menu and I'd be hooked. He had a lot of really good sound bites too- phrases that will be repeated, hopefully, for years to come.

If he can accomplish even a 10th of what he'd like, I'll be impressed and thrilled that we're on the path to fixing all things broke.

Some observations of today's event:

- George Bush didn't look pleased at all. I wonder what he was thinking through all of that?

- Bill Clinton is really wearing his age and not in a good way.

- I don't give a rat's ass about Aretha Franklin's hat. Jeez people! We just made history!

- I thought the respect shown to the Bushes by walking them out to the helicopter was extremely admirable. I was impressed that a) it was done and b) that it was one of his first actions as president. Regardless of what you feel about either of them, you have to admit that that was a cool thing to do.

- Apparently I can't listen to the national anthem without tearing up. (Should that be capitalized?)

- I knew who Yo Yo Ma was because he was in a West Wing episode. (I'm not sure if he was *actually* in the episode but he was supposed to play for the president in it.)

- I've never seen so much fur in an audience before. Are only rich people invited to sit in that top area?

Today was officially Day One of unemployment. Yesterday was a holiday and I would've had it off anyway so I'm not really counting that. I worked on the website, got frustrated, uninstalled everything, reinstalled everything, got frustrated some more and then gave up for the night. Productive? Hardly.

I've decided that I actually need to leave the house tomorrow, unfortunately. I haven't been out of the house since the last snow storm since some bastard stole my shovel and I couldn't dig out. Not that I really wanted to go anywhere anyway. But I have a dr's appointment that I can't miss and I need a wall calendar and a small planner. I can't keep track of everything I have to do and the calendar on my phone blows. I'll have to see if there's an app I can grab for it but since I lost my outlook calendar too, I need to have something in front of me telling me what to do. It's amazing that I have so much to do now that I have nothing to do!

D

One more day...

Tomorrow is my last day at work. All in all I think I'm handling this pretty darn well - almost like a grown up or something. Yesterday and today were a little tough tho', having people come in to say good bye. It's the hugs that get me every freakin' time and leave me a little teary eyed - especially when the people come in with those telltale shiny eyes. Ugh. That's when it's tough.

I sent out my email to a select group and hope they (and I) keep in touch. We'll see... you know how people lose track of each other over time.

I have a meeting at 10:30am, then will go over my package with HR and then that's it for me. I'll come home, play with the puppy, screw around on the computer for a bit before heading to the Irish bar to meet whomever wants to have a few drinks.

Since I have the time, I'll be heading to lunch with a few people next week that I didn't get a chance to hang out with before leaving. I'm waiting for Susan to get back from vacation before deciding when to go hang out down there for a week. If I push it out far enough, we might be able to squeeze in a few classes or something, which certainly wouldn't hurt. :)

For those of you not on FB, here are a couple of pics from a photo session with Furry Moments Pet Photography. I'm rebuilding her site next week so it'll be better then. :p








Signing off...

D