Girls Week Out at the Beach: An MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
161

Roo, yes, these are college students. Now you understand why I weep every time I grade papers. It’s interesting because my best papers are usually written by ESL students, who have trouble with grammar but are usually clever when it comes to writing in general. Most of my native students have trouble with grammar as well but their writing is also a mess. :dubious:

Sorry for being so unresponsive to everyone this week; I’m being buried in a sea of papers. If the damn students would turn them in on time I’d do them all at once, but instead I’m stuck with a steady trickle of late assignments.

Hugs and kisses to everyone! Muah!

162

Morning. It’s a beautiful fall day here and I really want to be outside. But instead I’m stuck in more insanity at work. Somehow the craziness hit all at once. Why couldn’t some of it have been spread out to some of those weeks when I was bored?

I saw a kitten (alive and active) on the side of the road this morning. I almost stopped to pick it up but there was no place to pull over and the light that I was stopped at was about to turn green. But… now I’m all worried that there’ll be a squished kitty there tomorrow. :frowning: I hope it gets away from the road ok. There are no houses near where it was though. I really really hope someone else finds a way to stop and grab it. It looked so happy. It was rolling/stretching on the pavement and then got up and bounced around in the grass, all very kittenish. Stay away from the cars, kitty!

Since it was so rainy and miserable yesterday, I made chicken pot pie and gingerbread for dessert. KeithT made whipped cream with just a little sugar so it wasn’t too sweet to go with the gingerbread. That’s such a fall-like dessert to me. And soooooo rich with the cream. Major YUM.

163

You can’t withdraw without a valid debit card. I don’t know if it’s the same in the States, but we Canadians are amazingly dependent on our debit cards.

As it was, I went in, and had a really nice chat with a teller who recently went to Japan, and wanted to show me pics of her trip, when she found out I was Japanese. She looked at my (not really totally legal because it’s expired) passport, and said, “Well, that’s definitely you.”, checked my birth certificate, and then chatted while making me a temp card. I’m very grateful. I can access all of my thirty-nine cents in the bank!

I’m having Chinese potstickers for lunch. I sort of singed them while typing. Oops. I think I’ll do a chicken-macaroni-cauliflower casserole thing in the oven, and maybe bake some gingerbread at the same time.

164

Can’t you write a check for cash, LiLi? Or in your case, perhaps a cheque? Remember those paper things we used to exchange for other paper things that say “legal tender” on them? That’s what I’d do if I lost my debit card, I suspect. Either that or make Papa Tigs pull me out a whole bunch of cash.

I forgot to mention the cream. Last week at the Amish market, Papa Tigs picked me up a container of fresh blueberries and – I have died and gone to heaven – a half-pint of lovely Amish heavy cream to pour over them! Needless to say, I have been rationing my devouring of the cream, since it has approximately a week’s worth of fat & calories per tablespoonful. But it’s still to die for delicious.
*
ETA: Snerk! Someone on my local freecycle list just offered a Michael Vick jersey sized for a 12-month-old. With the comment, “No need for this any more.” Personally, I think they should hang onto it – it might be a collector’s item in future years! Maybe Michael Vick, too, can rob a sports memorabilia dealer to collect his stuff back! :D*

165

Thanks to everyone pulling for me! It’s not as bad as it seems, because there is no “shiva” during holidays/Sabbath, so since tomorrow is a holiday (last day of Succoth), I just have to survive maybe a few people tomorrow evening and then Friday until noon or 2 PM at the most. I’ll be fine :slight_smile:

Rigs, it’s “to each their own,” I guess. I only wish I could have gone back to work on Monday! My father and sister, at the very least, did need these few days of support… it’s a very individual thing. That and I’m not “everybody,” I’m a lot more introverted than average (IRL, that is :D) and what works for teh “average” person often just sets my teeth on edge!

**WhiteRabbit **(unless you mis-typed and meant a grandfather) – I didn’t realize you had lost your father. You must have been so young! Must have been extremely hard on you (and on Mama Tiger) :frowning:

**Taters **-- I’m glad your mom’s OK. Hopefully they’ll get the lying idiot who caused the accident to trip up and get caught :mad:

**Taxi **-- I hope the kitten is OK, too. They’re so cute.

**Haze **-- and you’re surprised that <Anything> as a Second Language students are better at writing than the native speakers of whatever language it is… why? I’ve found this is almost a universal phenomenon IME. People who learn a second language well enough to be proficient in it
a) Are more intelligent on avergae than the general population and
b) Try harder.

Li-li – I, too, am surprised at your reliance on the debit card. Here half the time I step into the bank I don’t even have to produce any ID (they know me), and I can do anything, up to and including cash withdrawal. I can also use my credit card as an ATM card – in fact I don’t even own a debit card (but my CC effectively acts as one – OK, deferred to once a month automatic payment from my account – unless I specifically ask for payments when I use it)
Are you collecting MMMPers* phone numbers, BTW? :wink:

  • (Male MMPers, of course, duh!)

**Rosie **-- hope you feel better, soon.

everybody else – appropriate emotions and wishes, hope you had /are having a great day!

**Roo **-- room 304?? :confused: No wonder I haven’t been able to find you! I’ve been looking all over the 4th floor for you (ever since I realized you weren’t in 403, like I thought we had agreed on!) ::makes a bee’s-line for the stairs going down:: :wink: )

166

Since snowbunny is on the road, Special One, I’ll reply for her. No, she didn’t make a typo; it was indeed her father who died. She was 15 at the time, and Young Tiger was 8. Their dad and I had actually been divorced for several years, but still had a good relationship. He died very unexpectedly at age 40; it was a rough time for everyone concerned. That’s the short version of a long story, obviously.

167

There are little signs at the teller’s desks that say, “Please have your client card ready”. I haven’t tried to access any accounts without my card in at least ten years. It’s the automatic thing- to identify yourself with the bank, you swipe your card at the the pinpad they provide, and enter your PIN.

I may have a chequebook somewhere, but I think it’s only got one or two cheques left in it. I’d imagine I’d have to go through the same identity-proving process trying to cash one without my card. We do all our banking througfh cards, online or at the local branch. We pay all our bills online. At work, only about a quarter of the transactions are cash- well, maybe a third. People pay down to $1 amounts with their debit.

Welcome to the almost-cashless economy!
Casseroles and gingerbread are baking, and I’m all overheated. Time to crash on the couch with a book.
Oh. I saw a stroller I really, really like yesterday. Price tag- $929. Aaaagh. But it’s got snow-capable tires! and it folds easily! And it’s really comvertible with a high handle! Sob.

168

I forgot to post a fortune-cookie fortune from Sunday night for everyone’s snerking pleasure:

Only talented people get help from others.

169

Doctor’s appointment this morning - $$$ . He gave me a script for Lunestra for sleep; that stuff is almost $100 for thirty days! Damn! He’s putting me on some sort of hormones for the hot flashes and stuff; I pick that up tomorrow. I have to go in for a pap and exam on the 16th - thrill thrill. I told him about how paranoid I was about ovarian cancer and he said there are symptoms that can be detected in an exam, so I’ll have it done. He also wants to schedule me for x-rays and an MRI for my back, but I don’t think I am going to be able to afford it. The chiropractor seems to be helping some.

Librarian Friend is taking me to Thai House for dinner; I’m giving her some beads and feathers and stuff for a hat-decorating party she is giving for her mom’s birthday. Fresh rolls, here I come!

Happy Hump Day, everyone!

170

Well, my work week is over - all 3 days of it. :smiley: **FCD ** wants me to take him out for dinner - damn the luck. So I guess after I feed the critters, we’ll go.

I’ll be seeing the dentist at 8:50 tomorrow, and about 11:30-ish, we’ll leave for Baltimore. After all the staples are extracted, my sweetie and I will head for Mom’s - wonder what she’s making for dinner?

I had a terrible night - I woke up with a stiff neck and it took a while to work the kinks out. I hope I can sleep tonight - maybe I’ll have a little vino to help.

That’s all I’ve got - I’m really boring today…

171

My Dad is home. Yay! :smiley:

We got him home this afternoon - It was entertaining this afternoon getting my Dad and his 2 sticks and my Mam her wheelchair and her stick in the car with the aid of a hospital porter with just me to get them all out at the other end!

rosie sorry you are feeling yucky

**taters ** sorry about your mom but you are right that is what insurance is for

Noone you and your family are in my thoughts

I am about 150 pages into Harry Potter that I was saving until I came home. I finally felt settled enough to concentrate last night in bed. So far so enjoying it.

Oh and work are sending someone with no field experience, no operations experience and no management experience to cover my job for me while I am gone :dubious:
This was at my new bosses request apparently which smacks of good ol’ boys club so I am not holding out hopes of having a job when I get back (my good boss quit the company 2 days after he helped me out with the family leave thing)

Right now work can bugger off - I am more concerned with getting my Dad back on his feet

172

Bugger, bugger, damn.

Idiot Co-Worker has called in to say he can’t come, or he’ll Fail His Course! And there’s no-one else remotely available. Real jobs, in class, sick. So I’m going in for a few hours to close. He has a total inability to plan so he doesn’t screw everyone over by suddenly announcing “Oops! Not coming in!”

Going to wring his neck.

173

It’s not the duration I’m really annoyed about, it’s that this was my only night off, when I could see Mr. Lissar before he has to go to bed. Because of Idiot’s terrible planning. Moron.

174

Death abounds in the office today. One co-worker last her mother last night, another lost her second brother in six weeks the night before last (and one of her parents 4 months ago), and my director had to rush to the hospital again. :frowning: This is compounded by my feeling bad for feeling sad about my dad dying 10 years ago, when people have lost their parents/siblings right now.

Plus, I haven’t heard back from my 3rd reference, and I’m wondering if she’s blowing me off, and maybe I should find somebody else, but today’s her flex day, so maybe she’ll get back to me tomorrow? And then there’s the flaky manager who keeps asking me to do personal stuff, when I’m not even her EA anymore, and apparently we’re not supposed to do personal stuff for them anyway…I guess I’m just having a bad day all the way around.

Yay, **ems ** and ems family! Boo to stoopid new boss (although if you’re out on FMLA, they can’t get rid of your job just because you’re gone. Change it enough to make it unrecognizable, yes, eliminate it, no.)

Also, boos for lost debit cards, expensive medical care, stoopid co-workers and anybody else that deserves them. Hmmph.

175

if it is, there’ll be wisemen gathering in the east in a few months :stuck_out_tongue:

176

This made me laugh.

I came home from work and promptly fell asleep. It felt good. Another early day tomorrow, then my parents come. Their arrival is fraught with anticipation and dread. I always think that this time it’ll be better, that they’ll actually be interested in their (only) grandkids, that we’ll be able to talk about current events (they are as liberal as I am, but they tend to go on rants instead of just talking), that my mother won’t say anything critical of the house, myself, the kids etc.
And it never works out that way. I tend to go into polite mode, instead of friend mode, but what else to say to people who visit, but never ask you how you are?
It’s gonna be a long week.

177

I’d suggest you make hotel reservations now. Remember what happened last time there was a miraculous birth. You wouldn’t want to end up in a stable in back of Motel 6 now would you? :smiley:

Howdy y’all! Miss me? Been a busy week and I’s tahred! Yesterday I was all involved in a trial run of Miller Chill [sup]TM[/sup] in the can. We ran a buncha cans and they are now packed in 6 pack, 12 pack and 24 pack. They will be shipped to corporate for further testing to see how the cans hold up, if they significantly change the taste of the beer and all that good stuff. We will also do this again next week because we ran out of beer!!! :eek: Brewing needs a few days to make more Chill. Somebody somewhere screwed up biiiiiiiiiig time betwixt ordering beer and making sure the amount of beer needed was there. Thus, yesterday turned into a twelve hour day for da bear.

On to other things…

{{{doggio}}} I’m so sorry about Maggie. Like others said though she had a wonderful life and was well cared for.

{{{Jah}}} those anniversary death dates for close loved ones are really tough. I know, I get all sad on the days that my father and my younger brother died.

Special1 continued thoughts and prayers headed over to you and your family as you continue to deal with the loss of your mother.

mmmmmmmm’s yay for your dad gettin’ out of the horsepistol and doin’ so well!

Yay for FCD gettin’ the staples out tomorrow and for feelin’ better!

Yays, boos, hugs, kisses or whatever else is needed for all the stuff I know I missed. I had almost two pages of posts to catch up on.

Ol’ y’all know who is drivin’ back from Biloxi tomorrow. His meeting ended this afternoon and he had thought about drivin’ on back today but I convinced him to stay and get a good night’s sleep instead and head out early. Drivin’ when tired is not a good thing.

Oh and tomorrow through Monday I am JoeDawg’s nanny. I’m sure he’ll adjust to my strict regimine (that may or may not be spelled right but I don’t care, So There! :stuck_out_tongue: ) of sofa, treat and cuddlin’ time. Oh and Saturday we are having the blessing of the animals at church so Ima take JoeDawg to get [del]exorcized[/del] blessed.

I’s tahred and achy, so Ima take achy meds and go lie down and watch tv til they work their magic on me.

Nite Y’all!

178

Ugh. It looks as if I am going to have trouble with at least one of my daughter’s teachers, and I may need to squabble with the middle school regarding my son. Sometimes we get the most fabulous teachers, administrators and staff, and sometimes we get a handful of unpleasant and/or unfit teachers. I have done this before, and I will continue to do this until my kids have graduated, but damn! I hate trying to work with a teacher who seems to have written my kid off at less than three months into the school year.

sigh More as it happens.

179

What’s “Chill” and what separates it from regular beer that’s presumably all hunky-dory with whatever’s normally on the inside of a beer can? And aren’t the cans themselves already pretty well thought out?

Hmm… Just had a peek at the beer’s website, and it sounds kinda icky, but then I’m no fan of Corona. It’s pre-limed and pre-salted?

Speaking of chill, I got an unusual payment for an IT job at DH’s company a while back. Rather than paying me for scrubbing the boss’ PC after he went to Viruspace, err, Myspace with his office PC, I got a fridge. A big ol’ side-by-side that was built in mid 2005, apparently used about two months then chucked into a storage vault until a couple of months ago. The owner didn’'t even bother to peel off all of the bits of tape that held the racks and shelves in place. They also didn’t bother to keep up with the monthly storage fees, so the moving and storage company took ownership of the whole box of stuff.

The bad news is that it wasn’t cleaned before storage. The good news is that it was all completely dried out, so it didn’t stink. Just looked horrible. It’s been all scrubbed out with disinfectant wipes and the bins and shelves went through the dishwasher. Finished scrubbing it out last night.

So, I have a roughly $1,000 nearly new fridge for the minimal effort of baby-sitting a PC while antivirus apps ran. :smiley: It’s going to live in the garage to hold pop, beer and overflow from the kitchen fridge.

As for the other side of the garage, I’m scheming out a new workshop space. Just have to sort out where to fit things like the router table, miter saw, table saw and workbenches.

But, it will need to wait a while - my back and shoulder are still hurting. :mad:

180

Back from checking the boat, having dinner, and buying a new monitor (*someone * wanted a bigger one…) We’re pretty much wasting time now. I’m going to take some melatonin so maybe I can sleep tonight.

But before that, I hear some ice cream calling me…