1 September 2005 / Thursday:
Yay! I called Sherm's! Dropping the 'bone off tomorrow, pick up "whenever" (I assume next week should be fine...).
Nook has NO SCHOOL tomorrow! Lucky duck.
The Guyz took me out for a blocker this evening.
WKAR (PBS-E. Lansing) ran their documentary of the MSU Spartan Marching Band this evening. I misremembered when it would be on, got back from getting blockered 17 minutes into it; turned out there were only another 10 minutes left of the program (why'd I think it a. started at 9PM, and b. would run 1 hour??).
Nook's at the HS football game tonight. The High School marching band is supposed to have their new uniforms (bet they look spiffy!) and their Drum Major was feeling pretty confident about their show when I last spoke with him. Maybe I'll go to one of the games in a week or so and see what they look like (didn't make it tonight).
V's crashed harddrive is on its way to California - sent it "Express Mail" this afternoon, s'posed to be there 3PM tomorrow - whoa! That's faster than UPS's 3-day guaranteed, for only a couple bucks more - interesting how competitive the Postal Service can be these days. Things're bound to change, what with fuel on its way to $4/gal (yep, $3.29 this AM, $3.79 and $3.99 this afternoon even before I'd left work). How much of that increase is a. Katrina and b. Labor Day weekend?
2 September 2005 / Friday:
Friday-Friday:
3 September 2005 / Saturday:
Hard to believe Saturday is almost finished as I write this. However, a few things were accomplished:
Nook's watching "Love, Actually" - hilarious movie, British humour. Still wonder just *what* the Brits think of the tune to our National Anthem - which had been a *drinking song* back before Francis Scott Keyes did his bit with the words? Think about it: besides a very few trained singers, who else but a drunkard would try to *sing* some of those intervals??? Hmmmm?
4 September 2005 / Sunday:
Lazy day. Hoped to "sleep in", but 2 dogz took away any chance of that. "Mo-o-o-om! Time to get up!" "But,it's ONLY 7AM!" "We don't care! WE HAVE TO PEE!"
Think the John Deere is gonna be sold via "consignment". Probably the best way to get something close to "market value", without having to deal with slimeballs. Gonna go back to the dealer it was purchased from, work with them; Jim trusted them and liked working with them. I don't know how to value it, anyway. :-P
No nibbles on Twuk - except for a voice mail from some 501.c(3)-type organization that pulls cars from classifieds and targets them to be listed - for ONLY $89 - on the internet. I don't think so. Guess it's Autotrader.com for the next step (for which I *do* have references).
5 September 2005 / Monday:
Day started out great, wonderful visit with Bananne & GG, got lots done. Now all I want to do is find a security blanket and hide from the world. That is all.
6 September 2005 / Tuesday:
Wished I coulda stayed in bed, still hiding from the world, all day today. But, had to go out [reluctantly] to earn a day's wages. The bright spots of the day were: the two chatty/cheery phone calls from Valdemort; walking out into the sunshine and being able (finally) to shed the Polarfleece cardigan I had to wear all day indoors; receiving email confirmation from DriveSavers that they have officially received Valdemort's harddrive into their system; and Nook's news that she is one of the lottery winners eligible to purchase a parking permit for the High School parking lot (yay! no more hikes over from the Middle School!).
7 September 2005 / Wednesday:
Busy day at work. Erick remains on medical until Monday, but he also continues working from home, sending over stuff that needs faxing and signatures; and Nancy & I are doing our stuff, plus keeping track of incoming and upcoming stuff that is Erick's until he returns. I don't hesitate to do that, considering these folks jumped to my aid earlier this summer - with a lot less warning (i.e., NONE). Thank goodness, too, that he is organized!
"Alfred the Great", "Sir Alfred", etc. But, when Nook heads off to school & I to work, he becomes "Prince Alfred in the Can".
He may THINK he's "Alfred the Great", et. al., but he is *really* the Court Jester....
8 September 2005 / Thursday:
Tiger has arrived!
Note to self: V needs a roll of quarters and a case of water this weekend
Unforgivable: didn't walk the beasties this evening. Had to do homework this evening - a student-parental unit interview for Econ class, all about Technological Innovations (based on CNN's Top 25) and *my* perceptions as to how life and work have changed.
And it was accomplished by a combination of email, internet browsing, Word, and Wi-Fi (including the wireless printer). How's THAT for the influence of Innovative Technology? Never woulda happened in 1975, when *I* was a high school junior...
9 September 2005 / Friday:
/begin !Dawg Blawg!:
/end !Dawg Blawg!
10 September 2005 / Saturday:
Y'know, I've been going to football games off & on for years. In fact, ever since freshman year in high school, which must've been 1973. And, y'knowwhut? I STILL have no clue what I'm really supposed to be watching. :-P
Out of the house and over to MSU around 10AM (Nook chose to stay home, for some odd 16-year-old reason). Had fun! Met Valdemort at the Trombone Tailgate, I got introduced around to other adults as "the newest member of the tailgate" (?!?!) - so I guess I've been accepted as part of the "Tailgate Community" now!! Valdemort thinks that Diane E (Section Leader Liz's mom) is sorta taking her & me "under her wing" given this past summer....which is OK - extended family in all forms is cool!
Nook missed out on a fun/relaxing tailgate (lotsa time, due to 3:30 game start time). And the adventures after tailgate, hauling a case of water from DGSLD parked at Computer Center ALL-THE-WAY-OVER to Gilchrist...
V was given a teeny urn to hold a bit of her Dad's ashes by the Band Moms and The Hutch (GBHS band director) - it's really neat - looks just like a pendant to be put on a chain to be worn! Very cool idea - makes it so much nicer for V to keep a bit of Dad with her while marching.
It was Alumni Band Day today - 135th anniversary of Spartan Marching Band. TODAY. Overheard one of the Alumni state that he'd graduated in 1950 - and had been a member of the SMB all 4 years he was at MSU. That's 55 years ago, and he'd been coming back for the Alumni Band every year!! WOW!
Because of Alumni Band Day, halftime was pretty low key - no fancy drill, as the alumnni shared the halftime show. However, the SMB (students) kicked *** for the post-game concert (in spite of the heat and the wool uniforms). They did a couple tunes that I loved - and *really* ROCKED on the Santana tune "Everybody's Everything" - OMG - where they pulled up the energy to do that, with a couple of the drummers running around, then LEAPING over their quads, and all the other members' choreography, I DO NOT KNOW.
V & I skipped out on the Alumni vs. SMB Drum Line exhibition. She wanted to peel off her uniform and both of us wanted a bit to eat (no wonder, it was getting on to 8PM!). Panchero's for chicken quesadillas, back to her room to pick up a couple things, then hike over to Computer Center to retrieve DGSLD, then drop V in front of her dorm so she could get ready for the trombone get-together. She plans to sleep as late as possible tomorrow - and I don't blame her one bit!!
Was told today's game was a "grudge match", played against Hawaii. Last year's game was a fiasco. This year's, definitely a grudge match from what I saw! Spartans played a "clean game", but as the "Rainbow Warriors" were getting trounced, as the 2nd half wore on, the "Warriors" started playing ever dirtier tactics: face-masking, throwing punches, unnecessary roughness, etc. Penalty after penalty after penalty. Yes, Spartans got a few themselves, but pretty much AFTER the Warriors set the tone. I hope that MSU "fires" the "Rainbow Warriors" from any future schedule.
11 September 2005 / Sunday:
Happy Grandparent's Day to all Grandparents out there!!
And, heartfelt memorials all around for all who remember and were affected by 9/11, 4 years ago.
Fun at Abbey Park for G-parent's Day. Cookout for the noon meal, with potato salad, cole slaw, and baked beans (oooh, STUFFED). Then - and I got a *huge* kick out of this - one of the young staff pushed out a "HAV-A-BAR" ice cream cart, with the jingly bells on the handle! Wow - memories from MY childhood! (Altho, I do seem to recall something like that, but with the business part of a bicycle grafted onto it, as well.) After the meal, there were *all sorts* of little-kid stuff going on - balloon-bending, face painting, cotton candy machine, movies, popcorn, "moon walk" (outside), crafts, etc. Yes, it was loud & noisy - but it was ALL happy noise!! Cool place!
[No, Nook & I did NOT get our faces painted - we had to run errands and meet schedules, so had to look *somewhat* human....]
Attempting to back up my important files to DVD - it's gonna take *4* of those suckers to save what I want preserved (better than CDs - it would take 22 of them!). Doubt the backup'll be complete before I turn into a pumpkin tonight... :-P
Yes, I did it. Hope I don't hate myself later for it. I *ordered* an iPod nano - with engraving to personalize it. Even paid the extra $50 to get double the storage. Geez - flash memory AND clickwheel...it can't get better than that. Now, I can copy over my purchased audio books to iPod and listen while walking or exercising!!! Can't exactly do that even with a PowerBook...
12 September 2005 / Monday:
Went to work. Went to Honda dealer to get both front and rear "accessory power outlets" working again (thought it might be relay, turned out to have 2 - count 'em, 2! - blown fuses! Never even used the back one until the front one died....and the back one didn't work either. Came home. Let Dogz out. Let Dogz in. Remembered they needed food. Left home. Bought 40# bag of Hill's Science Diet Adult Small Bites - and 3 nummy bones of some sort. Hauled 40# dog food home. Gave Dogz nummy bones. Sam's demolished in minutes. Loaded dog food bin. Fed Dogz. Fed Nook & me. De-pooped yard. Mowed yard. Did dishes while upgrading to Tiger. Sat down and read about "accessory power outlets" while upgrading to Tiger. Got up and fed Dogz cookies - twice - while upgrading to Tiger. Sat down and read [again] "Tiger Set Up and Installation Guide" while upgrading to Tiger. Eat some popcorn while upgrading to Tiger. Sit back and watch every known written language in the world get installed while upgrading to Tiger. Watch the gauge get closer and closer to the end while upgrading to Tiger....and it's installed! Uh, restart....sit back and wait while the new OS gets settled in while restarting under Tiger...panic briefly when screen goes blank/blue while restarting under Tiger...breathe sigh of relief when signs of life reappear while restarting under Tiger...YAY! it's started! Uh...."Setup Assistant" boots up....ah, all it wants is my password to register! OK, now I've got Tiger. Next step: install iLife [tomorrow]. Now? Bedtime! Good night.
13 September 2005 / Tuesday:
If *you* think you have a busy weekend ahead of you, read on for the Spartan Marching Band's itinerary!!
Thursday:
6pm: Load truck at Dem Field -- all Large Univ. equipment first.
Friday:
9 am: Load buses, pick up box lunches -- have nike shirts ready for rehearsal/clinic in afternoon (I will be reporting earlier to load up my stuff, then stage to hand out care packages c/o Kappa/TBS)
10 am: Depart for Dowagiac HS, MI. Eat lunch en route, dinner at 5 pm.
1 pm: Arrive at HS and unload equipment.
1:30 pm: SMB open rehearsal/clinic for HS bands
4 pm: Rehearsal/clinic ends, load equipment and buses
4:30 pm: depart for Edwardsburg HS
5 pm: Dinner at Edwardsburg Jr. High for SMB, provided by hosts
6 pm: Change into uniforms, M/F changing rooms to be announced. If raining, we will NOT perform in uniform.
7 pm: March to the stadium from Jr. High
7:30 pm: HS football game begins (Edwardsburg vs. Coloma) SMB performance during halftime (short pregame, short halftime, Everybody's Everything in concert arcs)
9:30 pm: Game ends, meet w/host families, depart w/host families for the night from school. Must know housing number at this time; change out of uniforms before leaving school w/host family.
Saturday:
8:30 am: Report to school in FULL UNIFORM.
9 am: Depart for Notre Dame (gain an hour)
9 am central: Arrive at ND band building
9:30 am central: rehearsal in Loftus Sports Center, joint rehearsal with ND band, then regular SMB rehearsal.
10:30 am central: rehearsal ends, eat box lunches at buses
12:45 pm central: warmup in sections
1 pm central: arcs in full band near buses
1:20 pm central: March to Stadium
1:30 pm central: Walk through tunnel to seats
2:10 pm central: Spartan Band short pregame
2:30 pm central: Gametime (3:30 airtime NBC TV here) MSU vs. ND -- GO STATE!!
6:30 pm central: march back to ND band building for reception with ND band
7:30 pm central: Depart for MSU, pick up box dinner for ride home outside of buses
12:30 am eastern: Approx. time of arrival at MSU. All buses must be cleaned immediately upon arrival.
14 September 2005 / Wednesday:
The important news of the day:
15 September 2005 / Thursday:
Madame is telling Nook she should plan to go to France as part of the French Class Spring Trip...and Nook asked if I would like to go along with her!! [She's going to check with Madame if she's looking for chaperones.] Sounds like a great once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Nook is apparently doing well in French class, loves speaking it, and is rather amused by how she & another French II Junior classmate seem to be intimidating their Freshman classmates because they can actually speak & understand the language!!
All of a sudden, I'm really fired up about the possibility of a France trip this Spring! O_O
16 September 2005 / Friday:
TGIF!
iPod nano works great! Listened to my audiobook while:
Also:
Even made it home BEFORE Nook had to head out for the XC Team's pasta dinner - and even had time to go with her to the grocery store to pick up edibles for tomorrow's meet in Holly!!
Before my pot pie even got out of the oven (put in as Nook left), Nook was BACK from her pasta dinner, and on her way BACK out the door to go birthday shopping for tomorrow's party @ Mia's....
Somebody PLEEEEEASE tell me why I don't feel tired?? Just brain dead?
17 September 2005 / Saturday:
Holly Invitational Cross Country Meet today. 10 bazillion schools in attendance - happened to see my ol' Alma Mater, Garber, in one of the lower Divisions! Grand Blanc put in a good - not spectacular - performance. Heavy competition out there.
MSU vs. Notre Dame. Regulation ended with the score tied 38 - 38. Overtime...ND kicked a field goal, score 41 - 38....at the last bit of time, MSU - TOUCHDOWN! and a WIN at 44 - 41 for The Spartans!!
When Valdemort called, she was hoarse from all the excitement! They were finally on their buses for the ride home, very noisy! The football team gathered around the SMB as soon as the game ended, and accompanied the SMB in several renditions of the MSU Fight Song. Pretty cool!
On the Hard Lessons Learned List:
However, the Apple Store's Genius Bar Geniuses were SO pleased we were able to get the data recovered! And also happy to hear that their recommendation of "DriveSavers" had a happy (albeit heavily-bruised credit card) ending. And I get to learn how to set up an external hard drive for backups.....
18 September 2005 / Sunday:
Today was "White Tornado Day" - at least for me. Got up 7:30, made my breakfast, showered & dressed in tatty shorts/t-shirt, and proceeded to CLEAN the downstairs "office" to the max. Pitched the ancient-falling apart-dust filled-and-who-knows-what-all-from-dogz-starting-with-Laker (well, OK, *I* know) braided rug. Tons of grit/dust/dirt under said rug. Finally got to rearrange the room more to MY liking (for now, at least). Printer cart is now devoted EXCLUSIVELY to printer and neatly-arranged printer supplies, not to randomly-scattered printer, scanner, paper, obsolete floppies & zip disks, and other cosmic debris - making it difficult to know exactly WHAT was on that cart....FOR ONCE. Vacuumed floor parts I haven't seen in 7 years. Vacuumed baseboards I couldn't get to for 7 years. Vacuumed furnace air intake I couldn't safely reach for 7 years. Removed all vestiges of PCs from room - temporarily housing them in upstairs "office" for the next round of "White Tornado-ism" - which will probably result in the den & upstairs office exchanging locations...as soon as I can figger out how to string Cable TV into that room.... :-P
The marcher in the family has survived the Notre Dame trip - albeit slept in longer than I *think* she'd intended, from the tone of IMs early this afternoon.
All quiet on the GB front otherwise. Trying to figure out if we'll be able to make it to Tatsuo's memorial luncheon next Saturday (Valdemort is hoping that "Cafe Sushi" serves alternatives to raw fish....and so do I).
Wondering: how can a cell phone LCD screen - which I thought was supposed to be *sealed* - get so much DUST into it....and the latest addition is what looks like an Ernie hair...*sigh*
19 September 2005 / Monday:
Woo-hoo! One little step towards de-clutter-ization successfully managed! Downstairs office looks great! Upstairs office, however, looks like a bomb went off in it, along with a hurricane, a tidal wave, tornado, and (haven't wanted to look closely enough) maybe even a dust storm...
Harry Potter has his Dementors...we have our Demandors (Alfred is the lead Demandor) - they strike fear in the heart of all dog cookies.
20 September 2005 / Tuesday:
Up at 6AM, out the door shortly after 7, pick up coffee at Starbucks (went inside - the driveup line was veddy-veddy long), roll past Post Office to drop bill in mail, come back out to Saginaw St., see the car that I would've been behind had not yet reached the drive-thru pickup window, scoot to work, arrive 7:45. Set up bids, fax out bids, finally printouts arrive - 45 minutes late - sort, fax, distribute; back to bids: New Jersey, Tennessee, Virginia, Missouri locations all bid out - whew!...corrections to one purchase order, prepare and send to print several others, cancel yet another and rebid as "customer couldn't perform". Finally heard about resolution to an inter-departmental issue that should *finally* allow my customer to pick up his material without any further crap from the vendor - who has been taking every opportunity to make life difficult for all. Find out GM Canada office I work with had bomb scare - building had been evacuated, everyone stuck waiting in the parking lot for 2 hours while bomb squad arrived to remove suspicious package from mailroom. Wrap up/shut down/lock up 5:15, home 5:30. Nook already at XC pasta dinner - missed her by 30 minutes. *sigh*. Grilled chicken, made "quick" couscous, reheated peas for supper - pretty tasty, actually. Loaded dishwasher, saddled up the Dogz, started on a blocker - Nook caught up with us partway up the block. Much ado about "mortal enemy" Bennie (who is our back-door-neighbor dog). Home, change, de-poop yard, mow, finishing just *after* it was too dark to see where I was. Blogs. Dogz. G'night.
21 September 2005 / Wednesday:
More of same. Add to that a kiddo who is sorta sick, but insists on running 5K at a meet today, anyway. At least tonight we got to have supper together!! Convinced her to stay home sick tomorrow, catch up with herself. Ran out tonight, Vitamin C drops, Hall's Fruit Breezers, hair stuff, and a side trip to "Oliver T's" for her favorite tea, Berry Kiss. She'll get to pamper herself a bit tomorrow!!
22 September 2005 / Thursday:
Left work today, wondering if all the clocks had been stopped and we'd been pushed through a time warp to 3 hours later than indicated...it was THAT *dark* out!! Turns out it was ONLY a storm, that basically has not let up since sometime this morning (and here we are, after 8 ET, and it's STILL raining).
Supper was scrounged, as Nook is so stuffy, nothing really appealed supper-wise - so repeat of last night's chicken salad for me (which still tasted good!).
Finally gave in to that voice that has been nagging at me for the past several weeks: "...make chocolate chip cookies.....make chocolate chip cookies"! So, chocolate chip cookies are AT THIS MOMENT in the oven - first batch! The first is the hardest one to wait for (at least THOSE appeal to the Nook's snuffly senses!).
Nook home today, managed to sorta get caught up with herself - debating if she will feel like going to school tomorrow. Spent the day resting, napping, snacking, and dealing with the 2 younger Dogz competing with each other for her attention. Yes, Ernie & Alfred-the-Great can be veddy-veddy jealous of each other when it comes to Their People (but not mean to each other - just competitive!).
Valdemort asked if the 2 little Guyz could ride over with me to pick her up tomorrow night...so "Double Trouble" are going along for the ride! And I can gua-ran-tee that they'll know exactly *where* we're going and *who* we are picking up!!
The most amazing stuff can appear right out of the blue! This evening, got an email from someone who'd been researching his genealogy and must've done a "search" on either "Nankin" or "Lathers"....and came to my website's "Julia D. Greene" diary entries! Turns out he's a distant relative of Fran's side of the family! I've replied to him (without giving too much info - very careful about that!), and forwarded the email on to Bananne & Fran - wow! If I read his email address correctly, it appears he's out on the Virgin Islands! Talk about scattering relations....
23 September 2005 / Friday:
Val's home!!!
24 September 2005 / Saturday:
Decided - reluctantly - to not attend Tatsuo's memorial luncheon. Wanted to be there, but the logistics involved made it not workable. Bananne's report made me wish I could've been there, but there are just not enough hours in a day, far much less in a weekend...
Discovered I have a nail in one tire....have to go over to a tire shop tomorrow and get it patched...
MSU won over Illinois - 61-14. More like "walked all over". MSU is now 4-0, primed for the "big" MSU-UM matchup next weekend (where UM is currently 2-1, having LOST to Notre Dame, whereas MSU WON over Notre Dame....). Can't figure out why UM is still rated "14th" and MSU at "17th", with those records. Guess sports reporters aren't known for math.
Dog Blog: The "little" guyz rode over with me to MSU to retrieve Valdemort last night. Due to repaired bike taking up entire rear end of DGSLD (with back seats tumbled), they were forced to *share* the front passenger seat. Sorta. Alfie tends to lay claim and make Ernie work to get comfy - 'course it sometimes results in Ernie *sitting* ON Alfie (and Alfie doesn't take THAT sitting down!). Trip home very different! Backseats back into normal orientation, Valdemort in front seat, Ernie lay claim to her *lap* for the entire trip home....Alfie relegated to the back seat! hee hee! Ernie slept in Valdemort's room - took over her bed, actually - last night. Very happy to have Big Sister back!!! And Sam was content that the "Pack Count" was "right" (even though it really isn't, as y'all know)
UPDATE!!!! UM defeated! They are now 2-2 for the season!! Hooo-eeee! The Spartans are going to be SO STOKED for the October 1 game!!
25 September 2005 / Sunday:
Valdemort is back at State tonight. She helped muscle/haul two loads in Twuk from the ol' storage unit - the two that needed her muscles, that is! Just one more load Wednesday or Thursday, at which time I will close out my account with the storage unit rental place...
Alex is pledging - er, 'scuse me, the correct term is "a Prospective Member of" - Kappa Kappa Psi, the honorary musical fraternity on the MSU campus to which Brother Valdemort already belongs. So, not only dating, but "brothers"? Interesting twist (albeit, not unknown!).
Valdemort had asked a couple weeks ago about borrowing our generator for "Sparty Watch" (which occurs during "Michigan Week" - the week leading up to the big MSU-UM game every year). A very convenient request, as we still had our OLD Coleman generator hanging around that Jim had half-heartedly talked about selling after we'd gotten the nice, quiet, small Honda generator. The Old One was inexpensive to start with, prolly not worth much today, so I opted to donate it to MSU KKY chapter - in "as is" condition, as I haven't tried starting it, but did send along the owners manual (yep, found THAT, still haven't found the Sabre/John Deere stuff). I'm sure there's enough ENGINEers on the State campus to ensure it works just fine. Jim "put it away" in True Jim Fashion a couple years ago, so - probably in True Jim Fashion - it'll likely start on the 3rd pull (just make sure it has gas & oil, first!).
Did see that a bunch of trash cans on campus had been dumped when we arrived this afternoon. Only thing we can figure is a buncha UM "fans" (***holes) just HAD to come thru campus and wreak havoc. MSU Groundskeepers were powerwashing the new Sparty area, too, so we're speculating that that same group of "fans" (***holes) might've messed with him. Valdemort is hoping none of those "fans" (***holes) peed on the SMB practice field (which is right next to Sparty AND all the dumped trash cans).
UPDATE: Sparty DID receive a dousing with Blue Paint - apparently in broad daylight & not very long before we'd arrived!!
27 September 2005 / Tuesday:
Whew! Monday - lots happened, none of it worth blogging - and no time to blog it, anyway.
Today, work [as usual], order [*gasp*] 8, count 'em, 8 baggers of Kruse & Muer bread for tonight's Cross Country Pasta Dinner at Princess Bubbles' (we co-hosted). Picked up bread, stopped at Rite Aid to pick up cups, ran home, let The Guyz out (amid wiggles & body slams) and changed into non-work duds. Grabbed margarine, salad dressings, romaine (yes, I washed & cut it up last night), iceberg (cored & washed last night), bread knife, juices (2 bottles), pasta serving bowls, loaded all into grocery bags, added to the booty already obtained and in DGSLD, and off to the domain of tonight's Pasta Dinner! While I tore iceberg & assembled salad, Richard (PB's dad) sliced and sliced and sliced his way through 6 of the 8 baggers of bread (yep - that's 12 loaves!). The Team started trickling in....turns out that the intersection of GB Road & Dort extension (to I-75) was under MAJOR construction and most of them got diverted ONTO the expressway instead of being allowed to simply cross - this on their way BACK from their practice site. The best story was the girl - with 2 guys as her passengers - who wound up northbound, did NOT take I-475, and wound up on I-69....took her 45 minutes to get from the park to Princess Bubbles' house!! [Everyone else either went south and got off at Holly Rd or took the I-475 split and got off on Hill...the joys of youthful drivers in odd situations!]
By the time all was said & done, and we'd decided the last of the Team had arrived, they'd consumed 7 of the 8 baggers of K & M bread, 4/5's of the salad, most of the lasagne, most of the homemade mac & cheese, and a large portion of the spaghetti & sauce! I never made it downstairs to see what remained of the desserts & beverages, but I'd bet the status was "mostly demolished". What a quiet, polite, and well-behaved bunch of young adults! Hardly a sound, except for game of pool or TV or chatting while they were inside. And I'm pretty certain they left the place in good condition (as always). The only drama? James first couldn't find his car keys...which he needed to see if the cell phone he couldn't find was in his vehicle. That was as I was leaving....*sigh*....cliff-hangers.
28 September 2005 / Wednesday:
Urgh.
Partially-cooked pasta should not go down garbage disposers. Especially when it's nearly a box-ful's worth. Makes for veddy-veddy stubborn clogs in places the snake will NOT reach (due to funky turns). And *THIS* clog is above the cleanout (located just below the juncture with the sink drain) - have to make a hairpin turn and an "S" curve to go up it (I have nothing *THAT* flexible) - and BELOW where the snake will go from past the sink trap.... urgh.
Next step: chemicals. Drano "foamy" doesn't work on standing clogs. Just makes a really pretty white foam *in* the sink. But, since it is *in* the sink, and the clog is somewhere below, it's just going to have to go away on its own before I can attack with the "standing water" Liquid Plumr gel stuff....urgh.
Don't want to call a plumber (what's the going rate??) over less than $2 worth of pasta...urgh.
29 September 2005 / Thursday:
Happy Birthday, Dad / Grandpa Hu!!
A day in which Momster:
Neener-neener boo-boo! Didn't have to call a plumber! And I think I was less time away from work if I HAD called one.... Definitely less $$ overall!
30 September 2005 / Friday:
Feels like Fall today. Cool, windy, high puffy clouds (yes, Ms. Meterologist, cumulus or its kin), gorgeous blue sky. We had our "Building Evacuation Drill" this morning. 10AM. Too early to have an excuse to take off en masse for lunch, late enough to interrupt what each of us were in the middle of and throw us off for the rest of the day.
Topped off DGSLD's tank (at $2.949?!?!?!), walked The Guyz around the block after getting home. Then, Nook off to pasta supper with XC team tonight, I finished off grilled leftovers. Moved *stuff* around in garage so I actually have room to put DGSLD inside again!! Now to shuttle *stuff* to basement.... :-P
Exciting, eh? Topped that by picking up fallen Siberian Elm sticks from the yard, then de-pooping. As if THAT wasn't enough excitement, put DGSLD into garage, uh, by way of Dairy Queen for a Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard, and an abortive attempt to get cash from the CU ATM (dang, it was out of order!).
Tomorrow, I am one of the drivers going with the team to the Midland Invitational. Up bright-n-early to leave from the high school 7:30AM, should be back by 3PM. Likely will miss seeing the MSU-UM game on TV - bummer - but at least I'll be outdoors walking around a course *somewhere in Midland*. Wish I could split, part of me doing the Nook stuff, the other part doing the Valdemort stuff - but, just have to do the best I can with current technology!!