take a big breath and hold it

I had an abdominal ultrasound, of all things, this morning. Haven't done that since spying on Meego in utero.

Recall that my doctor had me do some blood tests and advised me to cut back on the alcohol and fatty foods. And I was all, "what alcohol and fatty foods?"

The blood test showed a couple of elevated liver enzymes. Same thing the second time. So, ultrasound it is, and again with the "cut back on the alcohol blah blah blah..."

Did the ultrasound and got results in less than an hour while I was back home having my no-alcohol, non-fatty breakfast. Thankfully, everything is boringly normal, as I suspected it would be.

In the meantime, I had googled - as we do - these pesky enzymes. Seems they can be elevated when there's injury or inflammation somewhere. I will blame it on my back which began bugging me a year or so ago. On that, I will blame the backpack that I use for work. Meanwhile, I'm doing PT, which is helping, and experimenting with different backpacks.

So, speaking of backpacks, recall that we got a new Ring doorcam last weekend when our old one went belly up. Along with the purchase came a 30-day trial of their enhanced AI generated descriptions of the goings on.

As an example, I was brushing off this garden tool I used for clearing the big swaths of vegetation on the helms deep road. 

We got it a long time ago, and I don't remember the name of the tool. Apparently Ring AI doesn't know what it is either, so called it a metal detector.

Back to the backpack... When I leave for work wearing a backpack, Ring calls me a child.

But when I return home, I'm a person.

Clearly, that backpack is aging me.

foster feet

Later today, I'm off to the dentist to sheepishly get fitted for another fake tooth.  Please tell me I'm not the only one whose dog ate their original.

This morning, I went to the gym, which is about a mile away.  I felt like walking to/from instead of riding my bike, so that's what I did.  As I was returning home, I saw a guy out for a run on the other side of the street.  He was sort of prancing/running, like he was working on his form or something.

Then I noticed his bright shoes and figured he was breaking in a new pair by overemphasizing things, getting a good feel.  Kinda high-steppin' it.

Back at home, I opened my instagram and saw that a local running store had some shoes for demo.  Get a pair, put them through your paces, bring them back and report.  Free.  On closer inspection, I was pretty sure they were the shoes prancing guy was wearing this morning - conducting research for his demo survey for the store, most likely.

So of course I had to join the fun and bring home a pair for myself.  It's like being a foster mom.  For shoes?

What will they tell me?

I checked online and learned they retail for $130.  Buyers can pay in 4 easy payments of $32.50.  And now I'm wondering, WHO makes shoe payments??  I won't even do car payments.

Anyway, I'm caring for them until Sunday when I will report back on their disposition and what kind of home would suit them.

Until then, I must keep the dogs from eating them.  Pretty sure I can't use HSA money for foster shoes.

new camera mount from crap in my house

My tidying continues to pay off.  As I was going through the cagata in various places around the house, I unearthed a short and cheesy tripod.  I don't even know where it came from, and it looked quite old with short, skinny, clangy metal legs that wouldn't stay in position.

Might've been something for a kids' telescope?  Maybe?

Anyhoo, I was about to chuck it when I noticed it did have a decent mount that would work with my (okay, it's really Meego's, but he's not here!) little camcorder.


I started thinking about ways I could rig the mount for doing birds-eye-view videos like those for cooking and crafting - in my case, for drawing because no one wants to see my cooking.

Further in the decluttering haul, I procured a little swing arm desk lamp, and thought, "Ooh, that would be a nice mechanism for birds-eye-view video recording."

Screwing ensued... unscrewing too.

Ta-dah.  I ended up with a new-to-me 360-degree adjustable camera mount.  I hooked in my lovely SRAM / Mariposa water bottle as the perfect counterweight as shown.  The lightbulb housing is still dangling there, along with the power cord.  I'll discard those soon enough.




I did a quick zendoodle test, and all was fine, except the video is upside down.  Not a problem, I can just rotate it.  Well, I don't currently have any video editing software, so I would just rotate it in youtube.

I've since found out that youtube no longer has the capability to rotate while editing.  I searched help and found, "rotate the video with video editing software before uploading to youtube".

Okay fine.  Ima find me some video editing app, I suppose.

In the meantime, I did a quickie side view test, drawing at 90-degrees, which doesn't really matter with a zendoodle anyways, I suppose.  Not exactly birds-eye-view, but more like vulture-sitting-over-me-waiting-for-the-right-moment-to-kill-view:





Please excuse the accompanying music.  It came from youtube's free library... in keeping with the theme...

-------------------------------

Linking up this week with MamaKat for the prompt:
4. Write a blog post inspired by the word: free

gamer appreciation

I don't game.  Despite having various gaming platforms living in my household at various times, I wouldn't know the first thing to do if I ever found myself in the middle of a modern video game.  In fact, I vaguely remember, many years ago, picking up one of the controllers as my then elementary-school-aged kids were playing some PS2 game.  I was dead within seconds and never picked up a controller again.  I still don't even know how I died.

But I've got a new appreciation for the gaming community.

Y'all know I tutor online.  Most of my tutees are in high school or college.  I now admittedly smile inwardly whenever I go into the online classroom and see something similar to this at the other end:

SOURCE

Okay, he'd have to lose the VR headset, but otherwise, I'm a happy tutor.  It's because gamers got game!

Well... obviously.  But I mean, they've got all the best gear!

Sometimes the student is at the kitchen table or such, with no earbuds or headphones, so I'm catching all the echo.  And/or Mom or Dad is in the background loading up the dishwasher or something, and I'm getting all the clanging and banging. And/or they're on an old decrepit laptop with blurry, laggy audio and video, sounding like they're speaking from an aluminum can...

But not the gamers.  Oh no.  They're in some dedicated lair.  Their video is clear and smooth.  Their audio... OMG, their audio!  Words can't describe.

I still have no desire to become a gamer myself, but I want to give a shout out to those who take such care of their online streaming lives.

In other entertainment news, we've watched three movies recently, of which I will give a short synopsis.

The Little Hours:  I'm not gonna lie.  I thought this was pretty funny.  It's silly and raunchy, but that's what I expected, so I wasn''t disappointed.  It actually did have a bit of a plot, which I hadn't expected, so - win.

Hello, My Name is Doris:  This one had its moments.  I was expecting mostly comedy, which was present.  But it was also rather serious and sad and downright uncomfortable to watch at times.  Plus the main character is a hoarder, among other things, and the clutterphobe in me had to look away.

Zoe:  I could NOT get into this movie at all, despite the decent cast.  I found it slow and boring and containing too many plot holes for me.  I did nod off a few times only to awaken and see that the darn thing was still going.  Maybe it's got some good scenes that I slept through.

Anything entertaining to share?

hi, don't mind me :)

I bought a new webcam last week.  My webcam is working fine, but I like to have a backup.  Meego uses my old webcam/backup, mainly for the microphone, when he's online gaming with his friends.  He needed to take an online test last week in order to test out of a certain math class for college.  That's when we discovered that the video on his/my backup webcam was on the fritz.

Take an online test to place out of a math class, and someone is watching. If your webcam doesn't work, you can't take the test.

Well, we just swapped out the fritzed webcam with my working one, and all was good.  Meego passed his test, and we wondered what it's like to be a proctor for an online test.  Do they really watch the whole time?  Are they looking at multiple screens/test takers?  What would they do if they see someone cheating?

I only connect my webcam when I need it for online tutoring.  For those with built-in webcams, do you cover it up to prevent the government from spying on you?

I have a student I've been helping with a college math class he's taking online this summer.  We were at the library yesterday, and he'd brought his laptop so we could work on his homework assignment.

As he was airing his frustrations with me, I was communicating my empathy:

"Yes, they could have explained that better"
"You're right, that's not a very accurate graph"
"blah, blah, blah"

At several points, we noticed the cursor on his laptop screen was spinning.

"They're checking on me", he says.

"Oh, they monitor when your logged in?", I says

"Yeah, we had to sign something that says we know and don't care when we enrolled in the class", he says.

I noticed the band-aid he had covering his webcam.

"Is that why you have a band-aid over your webcam?", I says.

"Yep, but they can still hear us", he says.

We continued to work through his homework and came across another poorly represented graph.  I made robotic note of it.

"Ugh, you'd think they would do these better, otherwise it's confusing", he expressed.

"I'm just your tutor.  I have no opinion".

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
5. Write about the last lie you told.

from where I sit, pictures because I'm lazy

It's been a busy week and it's already Friday eve.

I was going to blog something worthwhile here, but I got this new standing desk, and now I'm tired even though I'm currently sitting...

In the process of getting the new desk - it's adjustable:  hydraulics! - I also booted Meego from the prime window spot and took it over.  Why didn't I do that sooner?

Don't feel bad for him, I turn to my right, and there he is, not doing the math tutorial he's supposed to be doing, but playing some online shoot-'em-up with a friend.  

Our high speed internet seems to be holding.  I've had a couple of online tutee sessions and everything's worked like a well oiled machine. *knock on wood*

Turn to my left, and here we have the temporary routing method for the high speed cable.  I just happened to have a swim noodle lying around - handy things, those swim noodles.  Unless your cat likes to work out his frustrations by ripping it to little bits. I think he's mad because I rearranged "his" room. 

I think he just likes to rip it up, but now I have to worry about him ingesting the shards in a moment of stupidity.  

would YOU do it?

Magnum was telling me about some accelerated life testing they have going on at his work.  He referred to it as "the Monster's Inc. setup".

Magnum designs door locks.  That may sound pretty mundane, but just take a moment to think about the abundance of door locks you encounter on a regular basis - residences, schools, museums, hospitals, senior living facilities (right, Joey?), etc...  And they have to work properly.

Actually, they're kind of like shoes.  You don't really take notice of them unless they cause pain... or unless you design them.

So back to Monster's Inc. life testing.  I haven't seen it, but Magnum describes it as a large room with 10 different doors, each with a unique lock.  The locks are put through rigorous testing on fixtures, but this particular life test uses Real. Live. Humans. Oh. My. God.

These humans must walk through each door by actuating the doorlock.  They must do this all day.  They must walk through those ten doors, each with different locks, over and over and over.

They've brought in workers from a temp agency who are paid, I think, $12/hr, and if they last for something like two weeks, they'll get 6-month temp jobs in the factory.  No degree, certification, or experience is required.  They just have to be able to open doors.  All day.

I can't even.

I told Magnum that it sounds like hell as he told me about the number of temps that dropped out after about an hour.

"They can wear earbuds.  They can take breaks as needed...", he went on.  I should note that this test was not his idea.

"It sounds more like a psychological test than a door lock test to me", I observed, and I'm not kidding.

They want around 50,000 actuations per lock.  Magnum doesn't think they're going to make it.  I'm trying to picture this room with people walking around in large circles as they open ten different doors.  They can't even daydream because they have to know what to do at each door - some they turn, some have a lever to push, some have a button to push or twist...

But, he says a couple of the "lock walkers" are still going strong, with smiles on their faces no less.

"Maybe we should have exit interviews when people drop out", he pondered.

"Heck, I'd be more interested in interviewing the people who stay!  Those there are the anomalies!", I said.

Would YOU do it?  What would it take?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Tell us about the last time you broke a sweat.

weekend imagery

I gave in and got a new phone yesterday.  Maybe it was peer pressure?

First, Harry and Meghan got hitched.  I did not get up early to watch, but as expected, the nuptials were nearly impossible to escape.  So many images and gifs so soon!

[NOTHING NEW TO SEE HERE]

In the afternoon, we DID watch the Preakness Stakes and the near photo finish that made Justify a Triple Crown contender.  I'm not a gambler, but I love watching these high-end horse races.

Now, onto Belmont!

So Royal wedding, Belmont Stakes - all so posh.  It made me feel rather frumpy with my old phone, which was working fine by the way.  It's just that it has SO little memory, I could barely have any apps on it.

So I went to the phone store, and the sales person asked what I was looking for.  I explained to her that I was wanting to upgrade because my phone only had 2 gigs of memory.

She looked at me all perplexedly, "You mean you have only 2 gigs left?"

"No", I explained, "I have 2 gigs total.  I have maybe 1 gig left"

At that point, she was probably thinking "Ugh, another old person who doesn't understand her phone... NObody has only 2 gigs total".

She asked to see my phone, then swiped a few times, then,

"Oh My GAWD!  You only have 2 gigs total?!"

Isn't that what I said?

Anyway, I now have a shiny new phone with a whopping 16 gigs.  It's like a bottomless pit!

My old phone camera was pretty awful unless the lighting was perfect - in that case, it was great.  The lighting is hardly ever perfect, though.  But picture taking was never a high priority for me anyway.

Now with this new phone, I thought I'd check out the improvement in photo quality.  I snapped a pic while on a bike ride, but Mother Nature didn't help out today.  Here's a shot of the Peak from the highest point of my ride.

It's there, in all those thick clouds.  Hard to say if the new phone camera's better.

On a brighter note, I did have a handful of photos on the old phone that weren't half bad.  I'm a little late in reporting, but the Mother and Father Goose aren't hanging out at the post office anymore.

I'm not actually sure if this is the post office family since the pond is literally blooming with goose babies. But they make a nice representative family

well good morning to you too

My day started off with the cat barfing in my desk chair - his favorite place to curl up and snooze after a raucous night of hunting and fighting.  Fortunately, I was immediately onto his "activity" from the next room as in,

"hmmm, that sounds juicier than a furball..."

Also fortunately, the day improved from there.

I did end up needing a new phone last week.  After trying everything I knew to do to get the old phone to let me speak and be heard, I risked going to the phone store looking like a technology-challenged old lady.

Thank goodness the phone really was for the crapper.

So now I've got a new phone, which is pretty basic like the old one - except people can actually hear me talking from this one.  And I still don't like talking on the phone.  I also don't like selfies and never take them, but took this first and last one to test the camera which seems to be as equally bad as the speechless phone's.

No cat barf photos, be glad.

Silver Liningness Sunday

Here we are, classes start tomorrow which is probably a good thing. The house isn't as tidy and organized as I'd hoped it would be, but I managed to get some things off the to-do list during the break in action.

Along with getting a few responsible things done, I also enjoyed finding some new bicycle routes, reading a coupla novels, playing too much words-with-friends, and watching some escapist tv shows.  Time to fire up the brain cells again, I suppose.

Meego started school last week, and Wolfgang is nearly all moved into the apartment with Chaco now.  This will be an interesting experiment.  Naturally, they've lived together before, but this arrangement will be different without their washwoman around.  Hmm...

And Potato, Meego's aged computer, just wasn't going to be able to handle the workload anymore.  He's been replaced by a newer, younger model to accommodate all the important gaming schoolwork.

Magnum and I offered to get Meego a laptop to take care of all his homework needs, but Meego didn't necessarily jump for joy at the offer.  Instead, he entered into cahoots with Chaco to build a new computer to suit his needs when I said we would contribute money we would've spent for the boring laptop.

The yet-to-be-named new guy arrived in pieces, and then this happened:

Chaco wouldn't build it.  He said that Meego had to build it, and he would just  help.  This so that Meego would take better care of it.  Either that or Meego would have to pay him bunches of money.  

How come Chaco was able to get such quick results when it's similar to the principle I've been using for years with such lackluster results??

And speaking of results, I got a surprise generous e-mail promo coupon and ordered some capri tights this morning.  While I was shopping, I was reading the reviews for these particular tights and came across a review that included this photo.

Yes, that's the same woman in both pics.  I don't think she'll mind me stealing her  photo since it was on a shopping site and all, right?  In her (favorable) review, she mentions that she's lost nearly 200 pounds in 15 months and plans to run a marathon later this year.  

I just love those kinda stories.  

.

Silver Liningness Sunday

Happy Sunday and Happy August!

Meego and I had another night of Sky Sox duty last night.  My voice is still a little rough, and I wasn't even on the register this time.  I had relatively cushy duty as a beer chick, but my vocal cords still managed to take a beating.

For one, it was a sellout crowd.  It was Avenger night!  Check 'em out:

I will say that they look a bit more formidable in the movies...

This marked Meego's and my final scheduled obligation for this summer.  I won't say I'll miss it, but there are some fun aspects - the cute kids in attendance, the camaraderie with the other banned parents and kids in the stand, and there's always something entertaining going on in the stadium.  Oh, I think there's a baseball game too.

On that note, Meego had his first week of 2-week band camp (this one time...?) this week.  It's not sleepover camp as it's just held at the high school, but sounds like it's been fun and productive.  Meego will be in the pit for marching band, playing the bass - which he prefers to marching around with a baritone.

Chaco graced us with his presence yesterday, just stopping by.  He's having a good summer - enjoying his job and his bicycling adventures.  Both he and Wolfgang (along with the guy at the bike shop) are lobbying hard for me to get cycling shoes.  I already have clipless pedals as Alice was wearing them when I freed her from spin class hell.  Maybe... maybe...

In other gadgetry news, Potato, Meego's computer, has been suffering some health problems that have mainly been swept under the rug.  This weekend, he's getting some TLC.  I'm not sure if Potato will be restored to his original performance strength, but it's nice to see some brotherly problem solving.  

As for me, I've kinda been enjoying the time off from school, but can tell it will get old soon.  I've got one tutor student who keeps my brain somewhat engaged, but other than that - sloth city.  I honestly don't know how the potheads do it.

.

escapar del Mundo Gusano (escape from Worm World)

I don't know about y'all, but we've got us rain here.  Lots of rain.  It rained all day yesterday, a rare event in these parts.  It was that steady rain that evicts the earthworms from their ground homes to avoid drowning only for the worms to likely drown on the surface.

But no one is complaining.  It's more a common chant of , "Hey, we need it... Good for the plants... Everything is so green... and not on fire".  Two consecutive years of devastating wildfires will do that to a community.

Chaco has graced us with his presence the last couple of evenings - bringing home some of his dorm crap so he doesn't have to move it all at once.  I told him to put his Tetris skills to work.  From the looks of it, I'm better at Tetris than he is.

In addition to random junk boxes, he brought home some of  his computer toys and has Potato (Meego's computer) all tricked out  now.

I'm waiting for the day Potato starts firing actual missiles.

Meego has a Food Day today in his Spanish class.  He brought a wildly unique dish:  Spanish rice.  In typical Meego fashion, he was last-minute pondering what to make last night and Spanish rice was crowned the winner.

As Meego and I were preparing the Spanish rice, Chaco was remembering his own food day experiences.  One year, he made these highly labor-intensive deep fried little sandwich things.  I don't even remember what they're called.  Another year, he brought fajita fixings.  I'd told him not to bring too much since it was a potluck.  When he got home, he told  how everyone was wanting more fajitas as they were the most popular dish.  I doubt Meego will have that problem with Spanish rice as it will probably be second  only to guacamole on the list of common dishes brought to Spanish class food day.

Anyway, as I was supervising the stirring and mixing of Spanish rice creation, I began singing "Spanish Rice" to the tune of "Spanish Eyes", and the freaking song is still stuck in my brain this morning.

"Say you and your... 
Spanish Rice will... 
Wait for meeeeee...."

Make it stop.  Please?

.

Silver Liningness Sunday

I think Mother Nature went a little overboard.  Back when we were whining about all the snow and ice and cold?  Well, it's currently close to 80 Fahrenheiting degrees!  I don't think I'm yet ready for the 80s!

But it's definitely the lesser of the evils.  I went out with Good Time Louie for an errand earlier, and we took the long long long way.  I justified it with the fact that the errand was mainly for Wolfgang's benefit, so I was compensating with the use of his bicycle.

Anyways, another good and productive week!  We're at midterm time at school, so some extra projects are due.  Fun stuff, but a bit more time consuming than the usual run of the mill.  My wonderful sewing machine invention has reached another phase gate.  Yesterday, as I was putting the finishing touches on my presentation, I was streaming this Transformer's music score and may have gotten a bit carried away.  I think my sewing machine has taken on some mech warrior attributes.  Perhaps that's the way it should be!

Did anyone celebrate Super Pi Day yesterday?  At the Super Pi Minute?  I did.  NOT!  I protested.  I protested in the name of Pi who does so much for us with so little appreciation!  Oh sure, people acknowledge "Pi Day" and go out and eat pie and stuff while, in the meantime, the U.S. math literacy lags below average internationally.  Viet Nam scores better than we do!

Magnum and I had lunch at a restaurant yesterday.  I know he would've liked some pie, but abstained so as to not deal with my silent wrath of protestation.

So no, I didn't celebrate Pi Day, because to me, every day is Pi Day.  *sniff*

Sorry, just the rantings of a sometimes frustrated tutor.  Excuse me a moment while I go hug the unit circle...

Both Chaco and Wolfgang graced us with their separate presences this week.  Even though they're just down the road, we can sometimes go for weeks without getting together, but then it's nice when they do stop by.

Plus, Wolfgang brought by another Pedal Perks prize that I apparently won for January but never retrieved.  They sent me a "Hey!  Come get your prize, you ingrate!" e-mail last week, so Wolfgang picked it up for me.  It's a cute little USB tail light

Charge it for an hour and a half and it's supposed to provide 6 hours of light.  Let there be light!

.

Silver Liningness Sunday

The autumnal equinox is scheduled to hit tomorrow night.  I'm ready!

In the meantime, this was another lovely and productive week.  I mentioned giving some much needed TLC to bicycle Bella, so I want to give a shout out to Youtube.  Gosh, it makes such things cheap and easy.

I particularly like the Global Cycling Network for their thorough and informative videos.  But honestly, I just love their accents.

We also got Meego's new computer, Potato, up and running.  This will certainly help propel his education into the 21st century!  As I glance over my shoulder to see what he's doing.... it appears to be some race car video??  Well... TOMORROW!

Speaking of technological progress, we watched The Machine and liked it.  It's a bit dark and creepy, but well done.  It could happen.

At P.E.O. this week, we had a nice visit from our state prez.  I realized that I've learned quite a few of my new sisters' names now.  I also got a decent job repping Cottey College, a women's college that P.E.O founded and still owns.  I'll be the Cottey rep at one of our local high schools.

I am still dealing with the after effects from the latest bee sting.  It's like the bee venom causes this buildup of jello-like substance underneath my skin that just goes wherever it can.  I've had this nice gelatinous pudge between my chest and belly button for most of the weekend, and it seems to be abating some now.

It still itches, and I'm using mind-over-matter techniques to deal with the burning.

Spongebob knows how I feel!






.

coming at you live from the internets!

My ex is sitting here, not speaking to me.  Fine.

Yup, got a new computer.  A shiny new desk top that Chaco built.  The old one, she had been fading for a while. 

Perhaps the worst thing was that, one by one, all of my USB ports shut down.  Not only would they not respond to devices plugged into them, but the mere act of plugging anything in caused a plethora of error messages and then *CRASH* followed by very colorful language.  ahem

For several weeks, I worked around it, thinking, "Boy, sure would be nice if I could upload photos / sync my ipod / copy files / etc."  But a big bummer was that I could no longer do online tutoring.  No more webcam, no more microphone, no more Wacom.  Sigh.

I discussed this with my IT department (Chaco), and he... er... the department concluded that the ex was beyond repair.  I needed new hardware.

He ordered.  He built.  I paid.

Today, I went to visit my online classroom and...

Although, it's pretty lonely there right now.

And in the meantime, my ex sits here.  There are a few files I want to get off of her, but... well, she won't speak to me.  I need to get with the IT department for a cable or two.  But he... er... the department isn't here right now. 

I know help is one the way, though, because Chaco says he's got plans for the ex.

Wait... didn't he say it was beyond repair...??

.

for Rock Chef, who asked...

"Is there such a device? "





Oh, YOU  BETCHA!

I like the one the little kid is wielding, myself. It's simple and efficient.  The snow doesn't need to be a perfect sphere to get the desired result. 

Except that child should still be wearing gloves/mittens.  Where was this shot?  At some fake-snow studio in California??  








Oh PLEASE let these be the next promo trash!



.

a few of my favorite things

"You wanna get something else?", she asked

I looked around in no particular direction for a moment.  "Mmmm... nah", I responded.

"A snack?  A drink?", she offered

I pondered for a second. "Mmmm... nah", I concluded.

I have one of those store memberships that gives reward bucks for purchases made.  I went to the store this morning to cash in on my latest reward, a result of Christmas shopping.  Turned out that my purchase was less than the amount of my reward.

The cashier confirmed that I could use the reward coupon, but I couldn't get change back, then we had the above exchange.  There just wasn't anything else there that I wanted.  And, if you must know, I was at a sporting goods store getting insoles for my walking shoes.  I only had about two dollars "extra".

I'm not really a "things" person - minimalist, remember?  So when I saw Mama Kat's prompt

3.) Five of your current favorite things.

I kind of struggled to come up with five things.  That's after ruling out people, of course, and  non-physical things like "health" or "peace of mind", etc...

But, by George, I came up with some stuff!

First of all, there's Bella bicycle:

Hot Hot Hot!

"Why Bella?",  you may be asking.  After all, I have two three bicycles.  While newbie Alice is a lean, mean, speedy machine, and playful Tessa is oh so zippy in her green tires, Bella goes just about anywhere I ask her to go.  Places where I would have to portage Alice or Tessa.

I'm not really a joyride bicyclist, but more of a get-sh*t-done bicyclist.  Bella gets it done.

Next, there's the gadgetry:

Okay, it's really three things lumped together as "gadgetry", so it counts as one.  There's my iPod nano that I finally got around to getting last year.  Music is food for the soul.  Then there's my Nexus 7 tablet.  Yeah, I could live without it, but it does SO much while being SO portable.  Lastly, my dumb phone.  I remember the time I went a-tuting and left it at home.  I was like an astronaut floating in space with no contact with the Mother Ship.  

And yes, I know I could combine these three things into one device, but not without compromise.  Now I like having them in their three separate forms (but they still count as one "thing" for this post!)

Nextly, some toys:

You know those weird emo kids with the asymmetric hairdos and eyeliner and sketchpads?  On the inside,  I'm one of those, only happy.  On the outside, I'm a math teacher, but I'm more like an art teacher that teaches math.   Without the marijuana.  

Then there's the various unguents:

Especially this time of year, I need my lip balms and salves.  That dark labeled one on the bottom?  I got that after spinning a wheel at a booth at the recent Turkey Trot.  There were other prizes, but I WANTED that lip balm, Baby!  WIN!

Okay, there's my five things.  Except it's kinda four things.  

It's my day to leave the extra behind.

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try not to miss me

At first, when he moved back from the dorm last summer, it was an adjustment for me to get used to not having as much space as I prefer.  I've mentioned that I'm a minimalist.  He's doesn't really buy into the minimalist lifestyle.

And that's okay, I knew we would be just fine.  It would just be for the summer, and so I wanted to make the most of having him home.

I grew used to seeing him in the kitchen in the mornings, brewing up something good for breakfast.  Just knowing he was there, at home, each day, was comforting.  Plus, he helped me out, doing work around the house that saved me time.

As the end of summer approached, I had to brace myself for him leaving again.

"It's good he's going back", I would tell myself.  "I'll miss him, but it's where he should be".

But as the day of his departure got closer and closer, I felt myself becoming more uncomfortable at the thought of watching him go.  What had started out as encroachment into "my space" had become the filling of a void I didn't know existed.  I really, really didn't want him to go back.

I told myself, it was my duty as a mother to let him go.  We intended for him to be at college from the start, and that's where he would be.

And then I said, "screw it already, I'm getting another one for home".

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Silver Liningness Sunday

Our summer ended with weeks of blistering heat followed by a hundred year flood.  This first week of fall has been much more stable and dreamier.  We also got our first snow on the Peak this week.

It actually snows up there year-round.  The summit of Pikes Peak really has its own separate climate from us lowlanders, but it's this first major covering that always gets people snapping pics.

Speaking of snapping pics, we finally got us a decent camera this week.  Magnum found a sweet online deal, and we snapped it up (get it?  "snapped" it up??).  It's a Canon EOS Rebel T3.  I personally haven't read many reviews or such because Magnum usually does that stuff before making a purchase.  It's like the way Burger King just builds wherever McDonald's does because McDonald's does all the market research.
Magnum is my McDonald's.

I need to learn how to use it yet.  Maybe I'll play around with it later today.  Toad photos anyone?

I finally got around to visiting another PEO chapter this week and plan to visit another soon.  Apparently, my name has made the list of People-To-Call-Because-They'll-Actually-Come-Visit-When-Invited.  My phone's been ringing crazily lately.

In movie news, we watched Side Effects, which I think I liked.  It was a bit creepy and disturbing involving evil people.  But there are several plot twists to hold the attention, and I'm happy to watch Jude Law do just about anything.

Wolfgang graced us with his presence for a while this weekend.  He needed a haircut, and I was happy to oblige.

And I finally got around to getting my eyes checked.  It's been about 5 years since my last prescription and I noticed having a bit of trouble seeing the board in class.  Turns out, my eyes haven't changed all that much.  Maybe the instructor just has messy writing?
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Silver Liningness Sunday

Well, first of all...

married twenty three years today.  We got it in writing and everything.  Happy Anniversary to Magnum!

This week, I got this e-mail from the mapmyride app on my new Nexus 7 tablet telling me I got a "QOM" badge.  So I'm wondering, "what the heck's a QOM badge??"  Anyone use the mapmy[thing] apps?  Anyway, one of my bike rides overlaps a course, so I got a Queen Of the Mountain badge. 

It so happens that it is the beloved Mouse Town section of that route.  I learned that this is just one of the fun things the app does.  I would ride my bicycle anyway, but I rather like being crowned a Queen of Mouse Town. 

So yeah, I'm enjoying my new Nexus 7 tablet.  So glad I finally got it for school and tutoring... *ahem*

Speaking of which, fall test prep has begun.  All of my students are nice kids, and I'm not taking on anymore, so that's a good thing.

The work season is ending for Wolfgang.  Recall that he works for a company that packs back-to-school supply kits.  End of work season = free stuff!  Nothing particularly exciting - antiseptic wipes, facial tissues, paper, paper, paper - but "free" is always good.

I mentioned we got Meego all jumpstarted for the new school year.  Chaco and Wolfgang are getting their ducks in a row too.  Chaco finally got his crap somewhat organized after I've been asking him to do so since June.  

Now to get my own rear in gear...

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