Silver Liningness, part VII

My cup runneth over!!

....No, really, anyone got a napkin handy? I just spilt some coffee...

Oh, but seriously, it's been another silver-lined week. Let's review, shall we?

Firstly, recall last weekend that I mentioned we were quite resolute about getting a second commuter car. Well, here she is! Isn't she cute?

It's not exactly an action shot. I just wandered into the garage a few minutes ago to catch this pic of her while she's sleeping. Absolutely NO frills '01 Honda Civic.

The trusty big-butt van has been relieved of its commuter duties and is back to RV status. It now resides in the backyard with our trailer. We finally have the white trash backyard we've strived for all these years.

Work is fun. I had some training last week. We've begun teaching classes online. How cool! I can teach right from here in the Man Cave! I will complete my training shortly, and yesterday, I picked up my flashy smlashy company provided WebCam. TOYZ!!

On a related note, I also kicked off another class yesterday. This one is the old fashioned, live OFFline version. Another nice group of students to bust down so I can build them up..

Remember that house for rent next door? Someone moved in yesterday! I have yet to meet them, but there was lots of activity with people and truckloads of stuff moving in. This could be good. This could be bad. Stay tuned.

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scene on a sidewalk

I saw him at first from a distance. But still, I was pretty sure he was male.

He was pushing a baby in a stroller. Just the two of them out enjoying some midday sun and fresh air.

He wore a striped polo shirt, a pair of sensible white athletic shoes, a pair of denim.... capris.

Yes, they were definitely capris - not just mere highwaters - landing at just the perfect capri spot at lower-calf. He wore ankle socks.

It occurred to me then that I had never seen a man wearing capris. It occurred to me then that I was turned off by a man wearing capris.

I pondered this. No, not the man wearing the capris. I pondered my reaction to it. (Well, okay, maybe I did ponder this man a little...) What was so off-putting? I pondered his "ability" to have actually fathered that baby he was strollering around.

Just a piece of clothing.

After all, I've noticed that I CAN like a man in a skirt.

But I don't know if even Brad Pitt can make capris work.

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when I grow up.... a confession of sorts

This morning, I was out in the wee hours for a run. Yes, it was dark, but I've gotten used to that now.

The thermometer said that it was 45 degrees, so I dressed accordingly and headed out into the dark abyss. It was a little chilly, but I knew I'd warm up once I got moving. Sheesh, yes!

I swear I felt the temperature rise 5 to 7 degrees in about 30 seconds, like someone turned on a heat lamp, minus the light! Suddenly, I had on one layer too many. But oh well, I trudged onward, hoping it was a freak hot wind current I was just passing through. Then I had the thought...

"I wonder if this is a hot flash..."

Seriously, I don't think I've ever had one. Heard of 'em, sure, but had the "pleasure" of one? Don't think so. I don't know much about them, preferring instead to just avoid the topic altogether

So there I was. Out there running. In the dark. With too many clothes on. Feeling all old-ladyish or whatever.

It did eventually cool down from the initial heat surge, but I still think I could've done without some piece of clothing. When I returned back to the house, I checked the thermometer...

AHA! Rejoice!! It said 51 degrees. So there HAD been some chinook wind or something that blew in some hot air!

Nothing like a bit of gerascophobia to wake you up in the morning!
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Silver Liningness, part VI, Vol. 2

Welcome to the weekend!

This is actually a first "real" weekend for me in about a month. I'd had to work the last 4 Saturdays and Sundays, but not so this weekend. I do enjoy my job, but it's nice to be able to look a total slob on a Saturday morning and not worry about what time it is. On that note, today is one of 4 times out of the year that the LSAT - a notorious weeder outer of lawyer wannabes - is given. Good luck to all of my students!

This week also featured a palpable cold front. I was hit with SNOW on more than one occassion! I learned that our furnace works as do wool socks. And Pikes Peak is very pretty now (no pics, I'm too lazy). Oh, and today's high should be around 80. Cold front all gone.

As for the pic-o'-the-week, I finally got around to posting Meego's old bike for sale on craigslist.


Recall that Wolfgang got a new bike and Meego inherited Wolfgang's old one. So Meego's got a new-to-him bicycle, and he wouldn't mind some cash as well. Let the selling begin.

I also mentioned that we're contemplating a new used car. I feel a bit traitorous to my bicycle commuter status, but bicycling to work is pretty impractical for me, and the big butt gas hog of a van is overkill. We're going car shopping today.

Update: She's a 2001 Honda Civic with 115K miles, no A/C, no cassette or CD, crappy factory stereo, hideous interior, U-crank-em windows... I LOVE her!

Oh yeah, as already mentioned, my vacuum cleaner sucks.
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sex kittens and dust bunnies

Gosh.

I stopped by here and said, "Gee this blogger hasn't posted anything since Sunday". And then realized, "Oh wait! This is me!"

Well, I have been quite busy, but that LSAT class I was teaching came to its smashing crescendo this week. Test Day is this Saturday (GOOD LUCK YOU GUYS!), those students have all left the nest.

So I've been happily catching up on other aspects of life. I'm shopping for a car for one thing. We threw out the beater idea in favor of just getting a second commuter car. Since Magnum's office moved, he's driving and I'm left with the big butt van for when I need to drive. Thing's a gas hog and can be a pain to park sometimes. So I'm shopping. The van will remain our "RV".

Oh, and today? I pulled of a successful vacuum cleaner repair job. I identified the defective part, ordered a new one, removed the old, replaced with the new. I plugged it in and the vacuum cleaner totally sucks! In a good way!

I ask you: can that every-guy's-current-dreamgirl Meg@n Fox pull off a successful vacuum cleaner repair job? I betcha not!
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Silver Liningness, part V, Vol. 2

Welcome to the weekend! Or what's left of it anyway. Time to throw around some thankfulness!

I've been quite busy lately with a full work schedule. A few months ago, I added a policy here that I would include a photo of something good from the week to the silver liningness posts.

I realized as I sat down to post this that I had nothing.

Not wanting to be a policy breaker, I just decided to download whatever was currently on the family camera. So, for your viewing pleasure, today's Thankfulness Photo:

Here we have Chaco's friend Anton on a bike next to a huge Chaco ear.

OKAY, so now that that's out of the way...

Well, actually, I suppose I can find a thankfulness bent here. Anton is a good kid. I' m thankful that he's one of Chaco's friends. He's rather geeky and owns several bicycles that he's scrapped together buying parts off of craigslist and whatnot. What's not to like? I have no idea the story behind this photo.

Oh, and just a side note, that house there in the background? That's the one next door that's for rent. Come on! Move in!

As I mentioned, I've been busy work-wise. Believe me when I say that I am NOT a workaholic, I just seem to be pretending to be one lately. I do like being useful, but I'm thankful that some things are winding down and I'll have more breathing room in my schedule soon.

OH! And I just remembered... I do have a real photo! Last spring at school, all of the third graders (of which Meego was one) received a little cabbage plant in a cup from some seed company. The idea being to encourage kids to garden. They also brought home a little info sheet about growing the cabbage and such, and instructions to take a photo of the kid with said grown cabbage and turn it back into the teacher in September for entry into this big cabbage growing contest thing.

Somehow, I remembered about bringing a photo in. I took a photo of Meego with his now bigger cabbage and he took it to his science teacher. He was the ONLY one! The ONLY one!

So anyway, the teacher submitted his single entry to the national thing. We'll see if anything happens. If nothing else, he gets points for follow-through. And we get cabbage.
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the thing what happened

So we all know that Chaco is learning to drive, thus he's the designated driver around here. He circles like a vulture, waiting for some errand that needs to be run. If one is discovered, he gleefully assumes the position in the driver's seat while the designated parent and/or legal guardian rides outwardly patient at shotgun while inwardly having a massive cardiac event.

One thing he hasn't quite mastered is getting the vehicle back into the garage. Yes, we actually keep our vehicles in the garage. Furthermore, we back them in, Fire Engine style, so as to drive them out frontwardly, Fire Engine style.

This can be a tricky manuever for anyone, let alone, a novice driver. Chaco did make an attempt once, when there was no other car in the garage. He succeeded in cracking the full-length mirror that adorns the back wall of our garage. Yes, we have a full length (that's wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling) mirror on the back wall of our garage... but that's another story.

These fretful excursions typically end with Chaco backing into the driveway, followed by a Chinese firedrill of sorts as the parent and/or legal guardian takes over for the backing-into-the-garage-duties.

Flashback to an evening last week. I was out teaching a class. An errand was run. A changing of seating arrangements took place in the driveway. Car keys were locked in the car with the engine running. Mayhem ensued.

I had the only other key to the car. My cell phone was off. I can only imagine the scene.

Eventually, they managed to break into the car, but before that happened, they searched around for the possibility of a spare key. A spare key that maybe I had stashed someplace. They rifled through all of my STUFF!

To this day, I am still finding my... my... my... treasures... strewn about in the frenzied wake! My jogbra section of the dresser! My secret stash of batteries! (wouldn't you like to know) My little box of special jewelry! My girl stuff!

I feel so violated.

"We know all your secrets now", Magnum told me afterwards.

I'm thinking maybe they made that whole story up about the car....
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