I'm quite the sucker, so spouse and I have an agreement to NOT agree to give out money over the phone. That's worked for a while, but the number of calls coming in is ramping up, and I'm getting annoyed. After getting home and hearing the phone ring while my key was in the lock, running to answer it, and having it be nobody, I am almost to the point that I'd rather let it ring, but I just can't do that yet.

Within the last week, though, I've gotten... more crotchety. I'm trying to balance my desire to be honest, my desire to not be rude, and my desire to control with whom I speak. "May I speak to mbumby?" "No you may not." Yesterday the person who called just asked "mbumby?" I said "Sorry" and was hanging up as they continued to speak.

I'm hoping that if the chaplain or my dentist calls, they'll identify themselves before asking to speak to someone. I'm hoping that the spouse & I can come to another agreement about how to handle these invaders from a unified front.

But it's not only the Verizon phones that are being called -- I recently got the following: hottyjoy897 wants to contact you on Skype
Here's their message: "howdy buddy join my cam @ let's play over here [url elided] can't wait to talk!"

Oh good. I just can't wait long enough.

( Spam received recently )
( Comfortable Discomfort -- in the scary mind of the mbumby )
There was a third thing I wanted to chat about (no, not the fact that I'm "skip=750 and struggling") but it disappeared.

I knew there were several things I wanted/needed to do yesterday -- and I figured they'd take up much of the day, but I hoped that today I'd be able to get some stuff done. Bed at midnight last night, and up at 10, I finally realized that I wasn't going to be able to do it all. Wanted to do some cleaning, to do my "daily" tasks, to close the month of May (figure out what I owe the house) before it's time to close June, catch up on FB and LJ (I'm not quite 1000 behind, so it's still "easy").

Also, it's Sunday, and I have missed for several years going to the UM Ballroom Dance classes -- I went for a while -- spouse & I were actually members -- and I even bought shoes (which I can't find) -- so I considered that.

Then I got tired, and at 2pm went down for a nap. Woke up at 6pm. Showered and ran in to Ann Arbor. Left my phone on purpose, since I didn't want to lose or break it -- and thus I managed to miss a phone call from the spouse. Oh drat and double-drat.

( Saturday -- outside & computers, fighting with the gremlins )

It's tempting to just blow it all off and drink heavily, but I need to leave in just over 2 hours, so I guess that notion is right out. :-)

In a win, I spent way too much on champagne cork pliers, but since I've been defeated by those before, often at the cost of bodily harm to myself, I am happy to report that they work! I dug into some n/a bubbly we've had for over a dozen years, and it is yummy!

( Yesterday after work )
Went home, processed mail, did my exercises, took my bath, and was probably in bed by 10:30. Didn't get anything accomplished other than that.

I think I needed the sleep, because this morning I had odd, disturbing dreams, and couldn't get out ot bed until 8am.
( This morning )

( Desktop )
( Laptop )
( New Hardware, new software )
( But why can't I... )
( Ubuntu )

Anyhow, here it is, evening on the 3rd day of a 3-day weekend, I don't feel I've gotten anything completely done, and I'm running back and forth between installing upgrades on the laptop, doing a virus scan on the desktop &/or defragging it, and putting time in trying to out-process the snail-mail I've received in the last month or so... not quite thrashing ... but overall I think I'm happy with the changes to the laptop. My Guru will give me a command to let me know if the flash (which worked!) of the Bios has solved my "it's not all there" problem, and in the next weeks/months/years I'll work on finding all the items I had installed on my laptop and putting them back. Although, when I do the Garmin software, I think I'll request it change my language to Russian.

And since I'm now off the pager, I may take a bike ride. And if I ever finish the mail, I may even see how far I've fallen behind in LJ-land.

I've finally completely used up the old bar of soap and started using my xmas 2007 gift -- a "lump of coal" -- peppermint flavored soap in a black lump. It's really yummy.

( Aches & pains, shattered, mbumby whines )

Last Saturday, when I went out to pick up the mail, a pretty grey cat wandered over and let me say hello. A short while later I was going out the back onto the deck (ironically to feed the birds), and was a little surprise to see him out there asking to come in. That I did not allow, but I spent some quality time scritching a Walter-cat.

I read a lot as a child. I talked a lot too, and I think early on my parents got me to "figure it out from context" when I'd encounter a new word.

They must have done that as well, as I was taught by their usage that to "lie" meant to say something that was not true. e.g. -- I lied, I'll take the coke not the iced tea.

In some cases, my guess was close, and I was in my 30s when I met an inconsistency and looked up ambivalent. I thought it meant to simply not care between 2 or more choices.

Yesterday (I'm no longer pulling 40, but rather pushing 50) I encountered "erstwhile" in a *blink* *blink* context. My childhood reading of that had indicated that it meant ardent, fervent, tenacious. e.g. -- Meanwhile, her erstwhile lover braved snowy mountain passes and hungry dragons in order to rescue the princess. *ahem* Not quite.

It's been a good day. I've gotten nearly nothing done, but it's been a very good day.

( Sleeping & talking & eating & people & mowing & pictures & riding )

Not again!

I'm still 10 days behind, skipping about 800 entries. Con this past weekend didn't help that. Didn't turn on the computer at all. Had a good con. Had a great time with friends. Got home 9-ish, was in bed 10-ish, woke up exhausted this morning. All standard post-con.

Taking a breather at work, signed into that _other_ social networking site I've been spotted on -- the one where less in-depth commentary happens, where I can skim more, so I don't fall as far behind -- and if I do, it's hard to catch up, so I just don't...

And started seeing reference to the death of an acquaintance -- one with whom I had a good conversation, not at this most recent con, but at the one before that. He was not yet a friend, but maybe after a few more cons he would have been.

I'm shy. It's hard for me to get to know new people. Heck, it's sometimes hard for me to talk to people I know well.

I have no words. I have no energy. And dammit, I'll miss him. Farewell John.

Home safely from FKO. Missing everyone. Skip=950 not barely enough...

My super-power is that ( things last )

I think of this now because I just had to throw away a Dish-washing liquid container -- there was no recycle marking on it.

( Can't buy me yarn )
I hate shopping. Especially when it's unsuccessful.

Drove down to a convention with a friend -- Good conversation on the way, both down and back.

( Read more )

And I suppose with all the good food available, it's a wonder that I only put on 2 pounds!

Ok, I've been tagged

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Put a # by those you've started but not finished.
5) Tally your total at the bottom.

( Books I've read, etc. )

A pathetic finish:

Read: 27 (Loved: 18) Started but not finished (and want to read): 5
Started and wil never finish: 1 Want to read (but not started): 11

Not going to tag anyone...

Most of this week I've been leaving for work while it's dark or very foggy, and leaving for home after dark.

Today I stopped at the Post Office, and when I got back to my car I groaned aloud.

My door, and the one behind it looks like I dragged a tree through the garage right next to my car.

I've not parked in the lot where I was vandalized thrice since the last time. I've been parking semi-randomly between 4 or 5 other lots. It almost doesn't look like a keying -- there's so much. If I'd been parked outside last night I'd have blamed it on the violent wind, but I was inside.

And all I can know is that it happened after Monday evening.

Left work early today. Got home 5:45. Managed to extricate my huge pole-thing with a saw and branch-clipper from the side of the garage that is full of junk. (Long story; don't ask.)

( What did I do? What did I feel? What did I see? )
I don't have a good feeling about this.

You know, I'd really rather have hummingbirds. They're nicer, and they might even be smaller.

Following in others' footsteps

LJ Stats for mbumby

  Created on 2006-09-08 15:36:11
last updated 2008-12-20 21:32:36

Journal Entries Total: 230
                            2006:    50
                            2007:  113
                            2008:    67

Comments Total: Posted=3440 Received=1140
                      2006:                  386                       170
                      2007:                1469                       388
                      2008:                1585                       582

Counts: Frnds: Mut_F: Comm_w: Feed_w:
   2006:    unkn    unkn           unkn       unkn
   2007:     235     unkn                 8             5
   2008:     285       179               14           13

After my failure to be able to hear all of the Tuba Christmas concert in Ann Arbor because I was too cold to sit through the whole thing, when it turned out my friend was playing in another concert in Howell, under an hour away, I decided to go.

It was going to be held outside, with a contingency of an indoor venue in case of inclement weather.

( What did I wear? )
( What did I learn? )

I ate a LOT of Mexican, and pseudo mexican food this past week:

( You say you're a sucker for details? )

I didn't set out to do that, but I was amused.

Well, this particular "Heavy Metal" would have been fine -- it was the WEATHER that defeated me.

A friend was playing in the Tuba Christmas taking place in downtown Ann Arbor on Sunday, so I really couldn't NOT go.

Unfortunately, this was an "outdoors" concert.

( How cold was I )

But the portion of the concert that I heard was really good.

I'm feeling so overwhelmed with "stuff" to do, that I could have stood to have a bunch of extra days at home, but that's not the sort of weekend this is.

Thursday we met some friends for turkey and cranberries and noshies and conversation, and it was all good.

( Friday -- cut for length and whining )
( Saturday )
( Sunday )
( More whining )

I bought a device (motion sensor for the porch light) a while back, and there is one piece attached to another, kind of like a tongue in groove. All plastic.

In the comfort of my living room, with the best possible angle, I was unable to shove the tongue bit all the way into the groove bit. Got it most of the way, but it jammed, and I neglected to realize the problem with this.

Now, mounted above my head, with cold weather surrounding me, I need to replace the batteries. This will either involve removing it, or shoving it the rest of the way in, which _might_ allow the battery cover to open.

Needless to say, I'm currently not able. I tried prying, but (1) I can't get a good angle, (2) the plastic I'm prying against is not tough, and (3) the object isn't moving at all.

I really don't want to unscrew it from the wall, enabling me to bring it all inside, so I'm looking for some sort of lubricant I can spray which will work it's way into the groove and loosen things up. Or other advice.

TIA.

On election day I actually wore my "I Voted" sticker. I usually don't even pick one up, but this time I did.

Ex-boss and I took the campus bus into town, and we sat across from a young man with a "Have you voted?" sign taped to his back. On his front was a sign that read:

Vote for Barack Obama
Vote for John McCain
Write in Darth Vader for all I care
Just vote.

The picture above it was one of Vader.

As we were pulling up to our stop I realized that I had my cell phone with, and had I thought of it sooner, I might have been able to take his picture.

---

And then today there was snow on the ground. And the radio was warning of black ice, and accidents on M-14, I-75, and I-696.

That "Cold Day" that had the student body so energized just took about a week to arrive, I guess.

(1) Composting works. Even if you've had a compost bin for ten years and never gotten a thing out of it, if there's a spot on the deck where leaves collect, and where they ... perhaps ... have not been cleaned up in a few years, you will find some wonderful rich dirt as the bottom layer if you ever do clean them up.

(2) If you're mowing the fallen leaves, mulching them in place as it were, it _is_ possible to run across (heh) a collection of leaves so massive that it will choke the mower and prevent it from starting until you have cleared the blade.

Political thoughts behind the cut, since I expect your friends-page is full of them already. (I'll find out in about a week what everyone else is saying...)

( Read more )

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a non-same-sex marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by those who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

It's been a good day so far.

I got e-mail from my little brother whom I've been out of touch with for a few years.

I got a slice of pumpkin pie.

And I got the cool icon above.

Went to OVFF. Took Friday off of work, so I drove down early in the day.

Friday was fabulous... except I was tired (as usual) so I missed most of the filk.

Saturday ... was.
( Click here for mbumby-whining )
One of my favorite aspects of Saturday at OVFF is the auction -- run by a real auctioneer. He puts on a FINE show -- and he interacts well with us, although we're probably quite different from any other group he's had to auction for.

Sunday was good, and I nudged my shyness and insecurity aside to introduce myself to ... at least 4 people whom I'd not known. Unfortunately, I really had to leave by about 4pm in order to get home before it got too dark and I got too tired.

Overall a great convention.

I was just at an all-staff meeting that was both being recorded and simulcast.

I erupted in an involuntary and loud snort.

The meeting was to discuss a new reporting environment/technique/etc., and a grid was being displayed to join users with the appropriate environment/technique/etc.

The rows on the grid were related to the different sorts of people we have who might want information -- from power users to upper level managers to assistants.

The columns on the grid were"

Who is the user? (Ok, that makes sense.)
What does the user want to know? (Good info to have.)
Where do we want the user to go? (...)

Wow. I'm utterly overwhelmed. Shocked and surprised. And amazed too.

( Vacation and Gift )

Stolen from singingpatient

how to vote
Think you know who to vote for? Not so fast. Make sure you are voting for the candidate that actually agrees with you on the issues you think are most important.

Check out:

http://www.votehelp.org

You can answer up 28 questions about the issues, and rate the issues in terms of importance. Then, the site shows you on which issues McCain and Obama agree and disagree with you (and ranks the issues based on how important you say the issues are).

Interesting... The candidate I do not support it still said I supported just under 75%... and there actually was one issue where the my candidate fared less well than the other.

Martha just came by my desk at work and mentioned that she's not sure why nobody on the late night comedy circuit had come up with this before she did, but she's come up with her first Palindrome: Harass Sarah.

Didn't much like what the radio said this morning.

The worst news was that further west than I go, in the eastbound direction, the highway is still closed. They've just re-opened the westbound direction. Bad accident in the wee hours (2:20?) involving 3 semis, one of whom crossed the median and hit another head on. The third one hit the wreckage, and then one of them burst into flame. One survivor is at UM Hospital.

And then, as I was shutting the car down to come in to work, I heard that they're tearing down the Ann Arbor Public Library. Granted, they're building a new one, but that building has been part of my life for 35 years. Less so since they told me that as a non-resident I'd need to spent 20 dollars a year to maintain a card, but it's always sad for me when buildings are taken down. Especially ones where I've attended concerts.

I know that lots of people do the hero worship thing.

I don't care what you think about our new Greatest Celebrity Palin -- But why on EARTH would so many people order "glasses just like hers" that the frames are now back-ordered. $375 frames!

Good grief! If I'm going to be spending that kind of money on frames, they'd better make some pretty darned good coffee!

Left work about 6pm today. I've been parking in 2 lots other than the one I've been vandalized in, and today's was across the stadium parking lot. There was a truck with some bottled spring water on pallets unloaded... blocking the way I'd normally drive out. Then there was another truck, and just outside of the open rear end was a ... I guess it's a car. I didn't really look. I was planning whether or not I would get dinner, how I'd be doing the work from home that I'll need to do tonight, and hopefully get some other stuff I'm obliged to do done as well. I was figuring how many of the things I really should do I'd have to set aside.

I half noticed the guy standing behind it, and the guy swinging underneath it. My only thought at this time was "and this is why I hate wearing skirts and dresses -- I couldn't just climb under a car". Took about 4 more steps, and the COLOR of the car sunk in.

Bright yellow. Low to the ground. Black stuff across the top of it. I KNOW WHAT THIS IS!!!

It was Momentum. The UM Solar car from 2005. I think she took 3rd place in Australia.

They'll be running a different car there next year. (I don't think I can go out to watch. Shame it couldn't be a trip that would run up against WorldCon the _following_ year.) The kid who was underneath plans to be there.

I asked if they were going to be doing stuff with it tomorrow, and they said no, it would be tonight. I guess there must be some football related hoo-hah going on and they're one of the entertainments. Glad I left when I did. I'd be quite irritated if my car were towed because I was still at work!

I think I saw a prior car on display -- perhaps at Henry Ford -- perhaps a decade and a half ago -- but -wow-. Busy or not, it was well worth a couple of minutes to chat with a couple of guys and see such an historic car up close and personal.

But recently been busy-to-the-nth-degree. Instead of just cleaning the house to prepare for our guest, I've been first cleaning it to prepare for workmen to tromp through it, giving them access to places I've not seen in years.

And making a bigger mess in order to give myself access to the mold (black? brown? something else?) that's working on making a hole through the floor/carpet/wall just about underneath where my head is when I'm asleep. Maybe one foot over and 2.5 down? It's been attacking the molding for a few feet in each direction as well.

Don't want to think about sleeping with a toxin, or about getting up close and personal with it while trying to clean it up, but I _can_ hope that once it is gone I will start to benefit more from all the time I spend "asleep".

Gosh, maybe some other workmen will be tromping through it soon. Joy.

I've always been "the responsible one" -- If I don't do it, who will?

But I've now been introduced to the next level, a place where even I have never gone before.

The other day I was parked in Royal Oak (in a residential area -- not Detroit, but not too far) and when I got back to my car there was a sign on it:

Thanks for buying American
You traitor
You caused this Recession
I hope the next job lost will be yours

I thought about it a little, and maybe it really is all my fault... If my last car had been the domestic I'd really wanted (before two (Ford) dealerships convinced me otherwise), I seriously doubt that I would have gone 15 years between cars. I expect I would have had to put more money into it keeping it on the road. And I certainly would have spent more money on fuel.

Then I thought of John Galt.

( The State of the Mess )
( The State of the AC/Furnace )
( The state of the WorldCon )
( The OTHER stuff )

Whimper. I can haz a few extra dimensions pleez?

I know I mentioned eating at Pilar's cafe ... and then suddenly it was gone.

I think I stopped off at its replacement, La Zamaan, once about a year ago -- getting a small sandwich to go. Then near Christmas I took a friend there. I was set to order something mundane to drink, but he asked "what is Shay Ahmed" and I realized I NEEDED to order that. And I had a miraculous salad where I actually ate green bell pepper (raw) and didn't hate it. And then month and change ago I took another friend there. (Got more Shay Ahmed.) And then this week on the way to work, I noticed that their name was gone from the overhead. Much sadness.

I'm trying to get rid of/recycle some of the old "stuff" at work. Stuff that "Nobody" could possibly have a use for now, but which I can't convince myself that it might not be sheer treasure to someone. I "know" that just because someone might eventually want something (like an old membership booklet for a defunct con) doesn't mean that _I_ need to save it... but all too often nobody else has, so I feel a bit of obligation.

( Lists of some stuff I'm close to tossing, but haven't yet made the final move on: )
( Stuff I've decided on )

So... if there's anything in that pile that someone can't live without -- that they didn't even know still existed, or that they think is just too funny to pass up, let me know. And if I still have it, you may have gotten yourself a piece of history.

A few years ago I looked at Open Office ... both the "word clone" and the "excel clone" and it was completely unusable.

More recently I decided that if I BELIEVE in using non MS products, and/or I wanted to run legal copies of software on all of my computers without spending a mint, I should give it a go again -- and people told me it was a LOT better.

( Mental Meandering )

Any normal person will find this foolish, but I'm struggling to clean out the spare bedroom. Before October. I've been working on it for a few months already.

( Progress inside )

Stolen from many

Rules:
* Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done.
* If anybody responds with "I've done that," add another thing.
* Encourage your friends to paste this into their own journal to list the unique things they've done.

(1) While living in England, the bicycle I was riding was struck by an (American) driver (who was speeding). The rear tire was bent into a right angle. I sailed up into the air, landed, picked up the bike and made it across the road (I'd been turning right) before the oncoming lorry got there. The house I was in front of had American residents.

(2) While walking home from the midnight showing of Rocky Horror (in costume) I got honked at by some guys in a car. A cop car.

(3) Just out of high school, I went with a friend (exactly 3 years my junior) to Massachusetts for a cultural purpose. Yes, we went to museums and parks and stayed in a youth hostel, but what I really remember was visiting Tom Lehrer, who was a very gracious host.

Guess I'm turning into a curmudgeon. (Ok, ok. Maybe I'm finally admitting to it.)

Went to the movies with The Spouse today.

Proof positive that I'm out of the loop with respect to theaters and movies:

* Realized that I'd probably been to Ziebart (once a year for 15 years) more often than I'd been to that theater.

* Was amazed at the commercials before-hand. I was used to the still photos of local businesses, interspersed with cute trivia questions. And when the movie got close a stupid animated "don't smoke, don't throw food, and here are the exits" reel. Was not expecting real acted and shoot-em-up commercials.

* Expected about 20 minutes worth of previews. We got ONE PREVIEW -- under 5 minutes.

** This preview took a movie (Dark Knight) that I'd been thinking might be kind of fun ... not quite down to "must miss" category, but certainly down to "don't bother unless it's a group and that's the only thing we can agree on".)

Oh yeah -- we saw Iron Man. I started reading the comic late in the game, and stopped reading a long time ago, so I don't know how much canon they utilized, but I thought the guy who did Tony did a good job... and I didn't like him at all during the first half of the movie.

My car was keyed again last week. This time, it was not parked on a route that everyone going to the cheaper parking takes, so it wasn't possibly a spur of the moment thing on the part of the perp. It had to have been deliberate, and aimed at either me or the car. Which saddens and distresses me more than being in the way of some random person's momentary rage.

This weekend I took out the touch-up paint. And, predictably enough (since I have no artistic talent nor practice with cosmetics), I truly suck at applying it. The "pen top" just didn't work -- although for filling a scratch like that it would probably have been ideal. Maybe if it were a horizontal rather than a vertical surface it would have worked. If I apply it using the brush as thinly as I've been told I should, it just didn't get into the white bits. And in any case, even applied thinly, the color doesn't exactly match, so the scratches still stand out. Perhaps not as much as before, but in a different way.

I hate looking shoddy.

I checked the "mute" setting wherever I could think to, and found no mute boxes checked.

Signed in as the administrator, and went poking on the control panel (it's rather different than it was the last time I was very familiar) and went to sounds. Looked around, and didn't see anything queer, but noticed that it went "boop" when I clicked on one of the sound-names.

Cool. Signed the admin out, signed me in ... and was never so happy to hear the funky Windows tunes!

Back safely from DucKon, and before I go any further, let me say that I completely and totally enjoyed all the people I saw there, all the conversations, even if we only spoke for 20 seconds, all of the hugs, all the people I met, and all the ones I renewed my acquaintance with. (I'm not naming names, because I'll forget a few dozen, and that would not be fair.)

( And inside the cut, there are stats, musings, and more whining than I should subject anyone to without their permission. )

And this week I need to figure out why my desktop computer has stopped playing sounds. No more can I play a CD on the puter. (Even the headphone hole on the CD player produces no sounds. Yes, I am sure that the speakers are okay; they crackle when I turn the computer on, or if I unplug them and touch the plug to the back of the box.)