I realize that this isn't worth anyone's time to decipher this, but as I didn't have a planned post for today I'll paste it here anyway.
Anonymous said...
LOL your retarded.
lol started from aim and online gaming... some of it even derived from 1337 5P34l< (leet speak) not text messages. us kiddies were inventing this shit before our parents would even give us cellphones. rofl. only dumbass middleagers use acronyms in texts... because we all have expensive cellphones now that have a little thing called t9.... guess you havn't heard of it lmao.
gtfo ttyl
omgfbbq!!! 2/26/2009 11:17 PM
The above comment was left for this post, which as you can see was written a year and a half ago. I was having a bit of a rant about people who don't just write what they mean to say in plain English and have started using these little abbreviations to text message and then have started using the abbreviations in emails and such, and I have to sit there and try to figure out what they are saying when they could have just written what they meant to say to start with.
So I had a bit of a rant, and then all these people come to my blog looking for answers. I don't have the answers, that's why I was ranting in the first place. Still, people come.
This guy isn't looking for answers. I don't know what he was looking for. Maybe he just had some time to kill. There are times when even your fellow nerds can't be bothered to talk to you. I'm sure most of my regular readers think that gamers are way at the bottom of the social order and that they will always talk to other gamers, because they have no one else to talk to and have nothing better to do. That isn't always the case. Some gamers are very intelligent and have important things to do. Still, there are people who are nerds even to the other nerds, and the other nerds give up and won't talk to them either. So no one is talking to this guy, and he's out yelling about nothing and trying to start conversations with strangers.
He was at a school, and I doubt that he's a teacher, so if he isn't still in high school I'm guessing he's in college. He's under the impression that makes him a grown up, and that people listen to him because they care what he has to say. People probably just take notes to make fun of him later.
He probably has brilliant conversations on why men need more money than women.
Anyway, if he had a point to make, he would have made it in plain English and not given me all this stuff to look up, which I'm probably not going to do. You can figure out enough from the rest of it. He doesn't seem to write very well anyway.
The only capitalization was LOL, which I am told is very rude, but I really don't care about such things. "LOL your retarded" makes no sense, but I'm guessing that he meant to say "LOL, you're retarded."
He seems very proud of the fact that he can write in code. He doesn't really think that's original, does he? I remember a lot of us (those who could write) coming up with our own little codes as children, so we could write notes to each other that the adults couldn't read. Seems like I mostly gave this up as a teenager, since it was usually just the fact of the note writing that got one into trouble rather than the content of the note. The code was then used for only very special notes, but I still think that I gave that up when I was sixteen or sooner. To be fair, my situation was different, and perhaps my classmates continued the practice until they were eighteen or nineteen, but I can't picture it going on that long.
Is "middleagers" a term a grown up would use, other than referring to the Middle Ages or people who dress up as people from that time period?
Then he says "before our parents would even give us cell phones," like he still has this sense that his parents were supposed to give him a cell phone, or that he's entitled to be given anything at all. It must have been something recent.
Anyway, I still don't really care about any of this stuff, but as my regular readers know I'm sitting here trying to kill a couple of hours before I can go in the other room and watch last night's tape of The Eleventh Hour. You can leave comments or not. I'll certainly understand if you have better things to do and don't want to bother.
And while I generally don't do Freaky Fridays anymore, I will just say that I'm still in the top ten Google searchs for "WTF does it mean."
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
I'm not Catholic, so I don't do the whole Lent thing
Dmarks was wondering what people give up for Lent. I didn't know non-Catholics did that. I don't do that, at least, not on purpose.
I've given up some stuff lately, but not because of Lent. Most of it has to do with the economy and my own personal lack of funds.
I keep putting things off. Like I've put things off until I clean the back room or until business picks up or whatever. And I put things off until the next paycheck. Like I need a new pair of jeans, but I don't have the money now, so I'll have to wait til the next paycheck.
I think I decided I needed new jeans about six weeks ago, but I still don't have any. The next paycheck was just as bad as the last one.
The most annoying thing that I've given up recently is some of my hair. I used to very rarely cut my hair, like once or twice a year. But then I had bangs, which I cut myself once in a while in addition to getting those once or twice a year haircuts. And then I stopped cutting my own bangs and got a few more haircuts.
So I was thinking a couple of weeks ago that I was getting annoyed with my hair, and that I should go and get a trim, which I expected to have money for after the next paycheck. And then I added up all the other things that I had to do and didn't have much left, so no haircut. And then I was thinking that I used to cut my own bangs, and it was no big deal, so I should just do that again and the rest of it could wait.
I haven't cut my bangs myself in a long time, and I've somehow messed it up. So now I hate my hair, and I don't have any money to go and have someone fix it. And even if I did have the money to go and have someone fix it, I'd have to wait a while so that it could grow out a bit.
I've given up a lot of eating out. Not that I don't still go out, just not as much. It's down to about once a week now. I've gone out with my friends twice this month (once using a gift card so it didn't cost me anything), and twice I've gone to Denny's with my husband using those coupons we got during the free breakfast thing. So that's been about it. And I've tried to buy more sensible food, except for the $20 worth of chocolate from the Valentine's Day clearance sales.
I've given up on a lot of the blogging that I used to do, because a.) a lot of the blogs I used to read aren't be written as much anymore, and b.) I haven't felt inspired to write much either. In theory, I have a lot of work to do. I'm doing some of it, but in reality I've probably spent more time on the computer watching both the new and old versions of Survivors. (That's Survivors the sci fi show in which 99% of the people die of some disease and the rest all shoot at each other, not Survivor like you vote someone off of the island.)
I have almost given up on Survivor like you vote someone off of the island, but not quite. I keep saying that I'm not going to watch it anymore, because I think that the people running the show have gotten very irresponsible, but somehow I end up watching again.
I have given up talking to my mother for a while, since a few weeks ago or whenever the last time she upset me. And my throat hurts a bit, so while I am wanting to give up more sweets I am eating popsicles instead. But I've found some sugar free ones, so it's more annoying that I'm spending the money than it is about the sugar consumption.
The mice are back, which has cost me a few minor things and a bit of sleep.
At this point, I have to give up ceramics until further notice, not just a semester or so like I had hoped. So I have to go and get the rest of my things from school, but I keep putting it off.
I haven't been to either Bath & Body Works or any craft stores since before Christmas.
And while I would like to give up a few pounds, I've given up on the idea of the serious dieting for a while, because a lot of the stuff that seems to help with that costs money. Like Eggbeaters. Eggbeaters are usually on sale for about $3 or $2.50 for 8 servings, while regular eggs are on sale for about a dollar a dozen. So I'm going to just eat the regular eggs.
Anyway, it just seems like I've got to give up a lot of stuff, but none of it has anything to do with Lent.
I've given up some stuff lately, but not because of Lent. Most of it has to do with the economy and my own personal lack of funds.
I keep putting things off. Like I've put things off until I clean the back room or until business picks up or whatever. And I put things off until the next paycheck. Like I need a new pair of jeans, but I don't have the money now, so I'll have to wait til the next paycheck.
I think I decided I needed new jeans about six weeks ago, but I still don't have any. The next paycheck was just as bad as the last one.
The most annoying thing that I've given up recently is some of my hair. I used to very rarely cut my hair, like once or twice a year. But then I had bangs, which I cut myself once in a while in addition to getting those once or twice a year haircuts. And then I stopped cutting my own bangs and got a few more haircuts.
So I was thinking a couple of weeks ago that I was getting annoyed with my hair, and that I should go and get a trim, which I expected to have money for after the next paycheck. And then I added up all the other things that I had to do and didn't have much left, so no haircut. And then I was thinking that I used to cut my own bangs, and it was no big deal, so I should just do that again and the rest of it could wait.
I haven't cut my bangs myself in a long time, and I've somehow messed it up. So now I hate my hair, and I don't have any money to go and have someone fix it. And even if I did have the money to go and have someone fix it, I'd have to wait a while so that it could grow out a bit.
I've given up a lot of eating out. Not that I don't still go out, just not as much. It's down to about once a week now. I've gone out with my friends twice this month (once using a gift card so it didn't cost me anything), and twice I've gone to Denny's with my husband using those coupons we got during the free breakfast thing. So that's been about it. And I've tried to buy more sensible food, except for the $20 worth of chocolate from the Valentine's Day clearance sales.
I've given up on a lot of the blogging that I used to do, because a.) a lot of the blogs I used to read aren't be written as much anymore, and b.) I haven't felt inspired to write much either. In theory, I have a lot of work to do. I'm doing some of it, but in reality I've probably spent more time on the computer watching both the new and old versions of Survivors. (That's Survivors the sci fi show in which 99% of the people die of some disease and the rest all shoot at each other, not Survivor like you vote someone off of the island.)
I have almost given up on Survivor like you vote someone off of the island, but not quite. I keep saying that I'm not going to watch it anymore, because I think that the people running the show have gotten very irresponsible, but somehow I end up watching again.
I have given up talking to my mother for a while, since a few weeks ago or whenever the last time she upset me. And my throat hurts a bit, so while I am wanting to give up more sweets I am eating popsicles instead. But I've found some sugar free ones, so it's more annoying that I'm spending the money than it is about the sugar consumption.
The mice are back, which has cost me a few minor things and a bit of sleep.
At this point, I have to give up ceramics until further notice, not just a semester or so like I had hoped. So I have to go and get the rest of my things from school, but I keep putting it off.
I haven't been to either Bath & Body Works or any craft stores since before Christmas.
And while I would like to give up a few pounds, I've given up on the idea of the serious dieting for a while, because a lot of the stuff that seems to help with that costs money. Like Eggbeaters. Eggbeaters are usually on sale for about $3 or $2.50 for 8 servings, while regular eggs are on sale for about a dollar a dozen. So I'm going to just eat the regular eggs.
Anyway, it just seems like I've got to give up a lot of stuff, but none of it has anything to do with Lent.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Not really a moron either, but....
Okay, so some of you who were reading a couple of months ago read this about me getting annoyed with my friend who has allergies. I think from now on I'll just go ahead and call her Miss Allergies, and you'll all know who I'm referring to. Anyway, Miss Allergies was a no show Saturday, and I don't think that I've seen her since the other Saturday night that I blogged about getting annoyed with her.
So at this point I haven't seen Miss Allergies in about two months, because I have given up going to the bookstore for a while and missed that at the beginning of the month, and she doesn't ever go with us to Sunday dinners, so she has missed both of those while I only missed one due to lack of money, and the last regular meeting she missed because her mom was in the hospital. Missing stuff because your mom is in the hospital is something we totally understand. But her other reasons for missing stuff get annoying.
So we were waiting for her Saturday afternoon, and someone was saving her a seat. And she always seems to be late for some reason, but at some point we noticed that she was really late and maybe wasn't coming. So one of my other friends calls her, and she said that she wasn't coming just cause she didn't think that what we had planned for the day would be any fun. So she just decided not to go.
Not that she had to be somewhere else or that the meeting was a conflict with something else that she had to do, just that she didn't think it was going to be much fun watching other people have fun.
So that is really lame. Of course it is fun to watch other people having fun.
Her problem was that half of the meeting was a chocolate auction, and that chocolate is one of her allergies, so she wouldn't be either bringing chocolate or eating chocolate or bidding on chocolate or having anything to do with the chocolate. But since she didn't want to be around for that, she missed the other half of the meeting which had nothing to do with chocolate.
And you would think that she would want to be there just to see us. Isn't seeing your friends the main point of the thing, not the schedule for the particular meeting?
Next month we have an art competition scheduled. So what if everyone had her attitude and all the non-artists stayed home?
So she missed a lot. For one thing, she missed seeing us. For another thing, she missed seeing the chocolate, and some of it was impressive. Someone made a very impressive character cake, and you can appreciate looking at something like that even if you can never eat it. And then she missed a friend's rather loud reaction to seeing another friend's mustache for the first time. And then she missed some other stuff, like a discussion about an upcoming convention. And she missed seeing someone she used to be friends with who hadn't been there in ten years. And she missed going out to dinner with some of us after the meeting.
So the chocolate auction actually was a bit of fun, even if you didn't buy anything. I don't really cook that much, and I've decided that attempting chocolate really isn't my thing. But I can buy on sale chocolate with the best of them, so I took about $5 worth of the $20 of chocolate that I probably shouldn't have bought and put it into jars and candle holders and vases that I've decided I don't need anymore and put that stuff in the auction. My stuff went for about $36, and the entire amount for the whole club was a bit under $200. So I don't feel quite so bad about the $20 of chocolate anymore. (Though I still have almost $15 worth of chocolate that I probably shouldn't eat.)
So the meeting ended, and some of us talked our friend from ten years ago into going to dinner with us. Normally, we do not discuss where we are going, because Miss Allergies had already decided where she could go, and we usually go there from then on, or at least until the place goes out of business. So for about six months we have been going to Outback Steakhouse, where Miss Allergies special orders the chicken, because we can't go anywhere new without first finding out if the place will allow people to special order the chicken.
Since Miss Allergies wasn't there, we decided to go somewhere else, someplace that we can't go to when Miss Allergies is with us. And we all got a bit silly, almost doing a dance, that we get to go wherever we want and eat whatever we want. The eating habits of Miss Allergies has become the most joked about thing whenever she isn't around. Like she can't have lemons in her water, and if the water comes with a lemon she sends it back, and when she's with us we don't get lemons either, in case they might make a mistake and bring her lemons too. And we can never go to someplace that uses a lot of spices, like a Mexican restaurant. So we decided to go to a Mexican restaurant, and I was lucky that the particular restaurant was one that was on the gift card that I've been carrying around for more than a year now, so I got to eat more than just the soup without spending any money.
So at this point I haven't seen Miss Allergies in about two months, because I have given up going to the bookstore for a while and missed that at the beginning of the month, and she doesn't ever go with us to Sunday dinners, so she has missed both of those while I only missed one due to lack of money, and the last regular meeting she missed because her mom was in the hospital. Missing stuff because your mom is in the hospital is something we totally understand. But her other reasons for missing stuff get annoying.
So we were waiting for her Saturday afternoon, and someone was saving her a seat. And she always seems to be late for some reason, but at some point we noticed that she was really late and maybe wasn't coming. So one of my other friends calls her, and she said that she wasn't coming just cause she didn't think that what we had planned for the day would be any fun. So she just decided not to go.
Not that she had to be somewhere else or that the meeting was a conflict with something else that she had to do, just that she didn't think it was going to be much fun watching other people have fun.
So that is really lame. Of course it is fun to watch other people having fun.
Her problem was that half of the meeting was a chocolate auction, and that chocolate is one of her allergies, so she wouldn't be either bringing chocolate or eating chocolate or bidding on chocolate or having anything to do with the chocolate. But since she didn't want to be around for that, she missed the other half of the meeting which had nothing to do with chocolate.
And you would think that she would want to be there just to see us. Isn't seeing your friends the main point of the thing, not the schedule for the particular meeting?
Next month we have an art competition scheduled. So what if everyone had her attitude and all the non-artists stayed home?
So she missed a lot. For one thing, she missed seeing us. For another thing, she missed seeing the chocolate, and some of it was impressive. Someone made a very impressive character cake, and you can appreciate looking at something like that even if you can never eat it. And then she missed a friend's rather loud reaction to seeing another friend's mustache for the first time. And then she missed some other stuff, like a discussion about an upcoming convention. And she missed seeing someone she used to be friends with who hadn't been there in ten years. And she missed going out to dinner with some of us after the meeting.
So the chocolate auction actually was a bit of fun, even if you didn't buy anything. I don't really cook that much, and I've decided that attempting chocolate really isn't my thing. But I can buy on sale chocolate with the best of them, so I took about $5 worth of the $20 of chocolate that I probably shouldn't have bought and put it into jars and candle holders and vases that I've decided I don't need anymore and put that stuff in the auction. My stuff went for about $36, and the entire amount for the whole club was a bit under $200. So I don't feel quite so bad about the $20 of chocolate anymore. (Though I still have almost $15 worth of chocolate that I probably shouldn't eat.)
So the meeting ended, and some of us talked our friend from ten years ago into going to dinner with us. Normally, we do not discuss where we are going, because Miss Allergies had already decided where she could go, and we usually go there from then on, or at least until the place goes out of business. So for about six months we have been going to Outback Steakhouse, where Miss Allergies special orders the chicken, because we can't go anywhere new without first finding out if the place will allow people to special order the chicken.
Since Miss Allergies wasn't there, we decided to go somewhere else, someplace that we can't go to when Miss Allergies is with us. And we all got a bit silly, almost doing a dance, that we get to go wherever we want and eat whatever we want. The eating habits of Miss Allergies has become the most joked about thing whenever she isn't around. Like she can't have lemons in her water, and if the water comes with a lemon she sends it back, and when she's with us we don't get lemons either, in case they might make a mistake and bring her lemons too. And we can never go to someplace that uses a lot of spices, like a Mexican restaurant. So we decided to go to a Mexican restaurant, and I was lucky that the particular restaurant was one that was on the gift card that I've been carrying around for more than a year now, so I got to eat more than just the soup without spending any money.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Is Friday night still the kiss of death?
When I was young, maybe six years old, I got to stay up late on Friday nights. I can't really define what "late" meant back then. I can't really remember what time I was normally supposed to go to bed. I keep thinking that my parents normally sent me to bed at eight, but until recently it just seemed unreasonable that anyone went to bed much before ten.
Now that I'm older and have a different schedule, I find myself drifting off to sleep at nine or sometimes earlier, so maybe they did send me to bed that early, just so that they had a hour or two for themselves before they fell asleep too.
Anyway, when I was very young I got to stay up late on Friday nights and watch stuff on TV. And that was the only night that I was allowed to stay up late, because Saturday morning was the only day that I was allowed to sleep late. When I was six or so, I watched a scary show, which I think was probably Ghost Story/Circle of Fear. (I'm not entirely certain that this was the show, but I've now found some of them on YouTube, so I'll watch some later to be sure.)
So I grew up thinking that Friday night was the best night to watch anything on TV, though after Ghost Story went off the air I don't really recall watching anything in particular most of that time. I think eventually The Powers of Matthew Star came on Friday nights. But in between that and Ghost Story I don't really remember anything. I just remember thinking that was the best time to watch TV, and I remember wondering why there wasn't good stuff to watch on Friday nights.
"Good stuff" being defined by pre-teen me as either horror or sci-fi. I remember seeing a lot of stuff, but I don't remember when most of it was on, and except for Ghost Story and Matthew Star they weren't regular series. Most of what I liked turned out to be pilots of shows that didn't sell, which were turned into Movie of the Week stuff, which may or may not have been shown on Friday nights. I don't remember.
When I got older I learned that the Friday night schedule was the kiss of death for TV shows. This I learned from reading behind the scenes stuff about Star Trek. It seems that for other people Friday Night was date night, not TV night. On the one night of the week that it is okay to stay up late, you're supposed to actually go out and do something with the evening, not stay home and watch TV. So if you're an actor or director or producer, you don't want your TV show to end up on the Friday night schedule, because in theory most of your desired audience is out doing something cool and cannot possibly watch your TV show.
So, even after you found something you liked to watch on Friday nights, this was bad, because the show was probably going to get cancelled.
As for Friday night being date night or anything like that, I didn't get to do much of that until 1985.
A bit before that, we got a VCR. I think that a lot of other people also got VCRs. My family got a BETA, which was a better machine than what most of the other people bought, but that's another story and we won't get into that.
I got married, and then Friday nights stopped being date night. Between our work schedules and not having much money, we didn't go out much, and certainly not on Friday nights.
In the early nineties I joined a Star Trek club, so then I again had something to do on Friday nights. A bit after that there was a show called The X-files. By then most of us had VCRs, so we were able to go to the club meetings and then watch The X-files afterwards. Of course, since it was both a good show and it was on Friday nights, we all expected that it would soon be cancelled.
It wasn't.
Later came the Sci Fi Channel. I didn't have cable at the time, and I still don't. But I was aware of it and sometimes watched it at a friends house or in a motel room when we went out of town. There were a few interviews with actors and directors and producers, some behind the scenes stuff, but mostly lots and lots of reruns. So people could spend time watching stuff that had been made years and decades before, like Lost in Space.
And then the Sci Fi Channel started making new programs. The first one I remember was Farscape. Stargate moved to the Sci Fi Channel from Showtime. Farscape and Stargate were on Friday nights.
I don't know if the Sci Fi Channel assumed that we all had VCRs and it didn't really matter what night they picked, or if they figured that none of us were dating.
Stargate was on for ten years, and it's first spin-off lasted five years. There is supposed to be third series coming soon.
So is Friday night no longer the kiss of death because we all have VCRs?
Now Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Joss Whedon's new Dollhouse are on FOX Friday nights. FOX has had a lot of good sci fi on Friday nights, but except for The X-files they usually cancel the show before it's had a chance. But I think now there's another problem.
Why move all the sci fi to Friday nights, when they must realize that most of the sci fi fans are already watching something on the Sci Fi channel? What was wrong with leaving Terminator on Monday where it was?
Of course, that caused us to miss The Big Bang Theory....
Now that I'm older and have a different schedule, I find myself drifting off to sleep at nine or sometimes earlier, so maybe they did send me to bed that early, just so that they had a hour or two for themselves before they fell asleep too.
Anyway, when I was very young I got to stay up late on Friday nights and watch stuff on TV. And that was the only night that I was allowed to stay up late, because Saturday morning was the only day that I was allowed to sleep late. When I was six or so, I watched a scary show, which I think was probably Ghost Story/Circle of Fear. (I'm not entirely certain that this was the show, but I've now found some of them on YouTube, so I'll watch some later to be sure.)
So I grew up thinking that Friday night was the best night to watch anything on TV, though after Ghost Story went off the air I don't really recall watching anything in particular most of that time. I think eventually The Powers of Matthew Star came on Friday nights. But in between that and Ghost Story I don't really remember anything. I just remember thinking that was the best time to watch TV, and I remember wondering why there wasn't good stuff to watch on Friday nights.
"Good stuff" being defined by pre-teen me as either horror or sci-fi. I remember seeing a lot of stuff, but I don't remember when most of it was on, and except for Ghost Story and Matthew Star they weren't regular series. Most of what I liked turned out to be pilots of shows that didn't sell, which were turned into Movie of the Week stuff, which may or may not have been shown on Friday nights. I don't remember.
When I got older I learned that the Friday night schedule was the kiss of death for TV shows. This I learned from reading behind the scenes stuff about Star Trek. It seems that for other people Friday Night was date night, not TV night. On the one night of the week that it is okay to stay up late, you're supposed to actually go out and do something with the evening, not stay home and watch TV. So if you're an actor or director or producer, you don't want your TV show to end up on the Friday night schedule, because in theory most of your desired audience is out doing something cool and cannot possibly watch your TV show.
So, even after you found something you liked to watch on Friday nights, this was bad, because the show was probably going to get cancelled.
As for Friday night being date night or anything like that, I didn't get to do much of that until 1985.
A bit before that, we got a VCR. I think that a lot of other people also got VCRs. My family got a BETA, which was a better machine than what most of the other people bought, but that's another story and we won't get into that.
I got married, and then Friday nights stopped being date night. Between our work schedules and not having much money, we didn't go out much, and certainly not on Friday nights.
In the early nineties I joined a Star Trek club, so then I again had something to do on Friday nights. A bit after that there was a show called The X-files. By then most of us had VCRs, so we were able to go to the club meetings and then watch The X-files afterwards. Of course, since it was both a good show and it was on Friday nights, we all expected that it would soon be cancelled.
It wasn't.
Later came the Sci Fi Channel. I didn't have cable at the time, and I still don't. But I was aware of it and sometimes watched it at a friends house or in a motel room when we went out of town. There were a few interviews with actors and directors and producers, some behind the scenes stuff, but mostly lots and lots of reruns. So people could spend time watching stuff that had been made years and decades before, like Lost in Space.
And then the Sci Fi Channel started making new programs. The first one I remember was Farscape. Stargate moved to the Sci Fi Channel from Showtime. Farscape and Stargate were on Friday nights.
I don't know if the Sci Fi Channel assumed that we all had VCRs and it didn't really matter what night they picked, or if they figured that none of us were dating.
Stargate was on for ten years, and it's first spin-off lasted five years. There is supposed to be third series coming soon.
So is Friday night no longer the kiss of death because we all have VCRs?
Now Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Joss Whedon's new Dollhouse are on FOX Friday nights. FOX has had a lot of good sci fi on Friday nights, but except for The X-files they usually cancel the show before it's had a chance. But I think now there's another problem.
Why move all the sci fi to Friday nights, when they must realize that most of the sci fi fans are already watching something on the Sci Fi channel? What was wrong with leaving Terminator on Monday where it was?
Of course, that caused us to miss The Big Bang Theory....
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Where the hell are you?
Okay, so I follow various blogs. Some of these people I really care about, others are maybe not really friends but I find their posts interesting, and still others I just lurk around so that I can make fun of them later. Probably most are in the second group.
People stop blogging sometimes. Sometimes it is for a long time or even a permanent thing. Usually it is just that they got busy with other things or just didn't have anything to say for a bit. Sometimes they are nice and warn the rest of us that they won't be around for a while and that we shouldn't worry.
So there have been people in the first and second groups that haven't blogged in a while, and that kind of sucks, especially when they don't warn us that they are going on vacation and we start to worry.
Some of them have come back recently. Good for them.
One in the second group did just the opposite. Friday's post said very little, except that Saturday's post would really be a big deal, and we should not miss it for any reason.
Saturday came, and there was no post. Sunday, again, no post. And last time I checked on Monday, there was still no post.
I start to suspect that whatever they were going to post about on Saturday had gotten them into a bit of trouble, and that explained their absence. Well, they are both grownups, and they had been warned. These things happen.
It also occurred to me that since they live up north that they might have been in some terrible car accident or fell on the ice or some such thing. Living up north has never made much sense to me, but people continue to do it.
And then of course there are all sorts of unpleasant things that might happen to a people even if they do not have little projects that might get them into trouble and have little or nothing to do with living up north. People get the flu and food poisoning and have power outages and such. Sometimes bad things happen and people just can't post anything.
Yesterday was one of those Monday holidays that I can never remember. It caused us a bit of trouble yesterday, as my husband had planned to spend his day off doing some business downtown, and of course on the day he decides to do this all the government buildings were closed. Unfortunately, he has two extra days off this week, so he'll just do that stuff either today or tomorrow.
Since it was one of those holidays that I can never remember, I couldn't email a certain friend of mine who does not have her own computer and can't email except Monday thru Friday from nine to five. So that got me thinking that maybe the bloggers in question had something go wrong with their home computer, and maybe they also had Monday off and couldn't get to a computer until Tuesday morning, and then all would be explained.
But, no. After I stopped checking on Monday, they posted twice, and neither post was the thing that we were not to miss on Saturday. And neither post was an explanation of their absence. They just went on about this and that as though nothing unusual had happened.
On a totally different subject, some friends and I received an email from someone we have never met, who likes the same stuff and wants to join a club or something. After being told where the club meets and such, she had something come up and couldn't make the meeting, and then she missed it again the next month too. And then Saturday she sends out an email that she's so upset that she's thinking of killing herself, and so we shouldn't expect to see her at the next meeting either. She got various responses, including admissions from club members that they had also thought about or even attempted suicide and that she should get some help and help is out there, etc....
Last night she sent out another email saying that she didn't go through with it and that she didn't see the point of "getting help" if it meant paying someone to ask about your personal crap. And then she said something like she'd gone out and bought herself a nice t-shirt and some DVDs.
I think buying t-shirts and DVDs is usually a better idea than killing yourself.
Everyone else who got the email has now decided that this person is a total fake and we shouldn't have anything to do with her. If she really had a problem she would go and get help instead of going shopping.
I don't know. I don't think that not wanting to talk to a shrink is proof positive that you're a fake. It wasn't like the email was an actual suicide note. People vent. Personally, I would not vent like that to a bunch of people before I meet them, but I suppose other people have different ideas of what is appropriate. I just thought that I should stay out of it cause I don't know her.
I don't care to "get help" by paying someone to ask me personal stuff either. Probably after talking about a lot of stuff that upsets me, I would just be more upset, and I would be told something like I would probably feel better if I got a job.
Duh.
People stop blogging sometimes. Sometimes it is for a long time or even a permanent thing. Usually it is just that they got busy with other things or just didn't have anything to say for a bit. Sometimes they are nice and warn the rest of us that they won't be around for a while and that we shouldn't worry.
So there have been people in the first and second groups that haven't blogged in a while, and that kind of sucks, especially when they don't warn us that they are going on vacation and we start to worry.
Some of them have come back recently. Good for them.
One in the second group did just the opposite. Friday's post said very little, except that Saturday's post would really be a big deal, and we should not miss it for any reason.
Saturday came, and there was no post. Sunday, again, no post. And last time I checked on Monday, there was still no post.
I start to suspect that whatever they were going to post about on Saturday had gotten them into a bit of trouble, and that explained their absence. Well, they are both grownups, and they had been warned. These things happen.
It also occurred to me that since they live up north that they might have been in some terrible car accident or fell on the ice or some such thing. Living up north has never made much sense to me, but people continue to do it.
And then of course there are all sorts of unpleasant things that might happen to a people even if they do not have little projects that might get them into trouble and have little or nothing to do with living up north. People get the flu and food poisoning and have power outages and such. Sometimes bad things happen and people just can't post anything.
Yesterday was one of those Monday holidays that I can never remember. It caused us a bit of trouble yesterday, as my husband had planned to spend his day off doing some business downtown, and of course on the day he decides to do this all the government buildings were closed. Unfortunately, he has two extra days off this week, so he'll just do that stuff either today or tomorrow.
Since it was one of those holidays that I can never remember, I couldn't email a certain friend of mine who does not have her own computer and can't email except Monday thru Friday from nine to five. So that got me thinking that maybe the bloggers in question had something go wrong with their home computer, and maybe they also had Monday off and couldn't get to a computer until Tuesday morning, and then all would be explained.
But, no. After I stopped checking on Monday, they posted twice, and neither post was the thing that we were not to miss on Saturday. And neither post was an explanation of their absence. They just went on about this and that as though nothing unusual had happened.
On a totally different subject, some friends and I received an email from someone we have never met, who likes the same stuff and wants to join a club or something. After being told where the club meets and such, she had something come up and couldn't make the meeting, and then she missed it again the next month too. And then Saturday she sends out an email that she's so upset that she's thinking of killing herself, and so we shouldn't expect to see her at the next meeting either. She got various responses, including admissions from club members that they had also thought about or even attempted suicide and that she should get some help and help is out there, etc....
Last night she sent out another email saying that she didn't go through with it and that she didn't see the point of "getting help" if it meant paying someone to ask about your personal crap. And then she said something like she'd gone out and bought herself a nice t-shirt and some DVDs.
I think buying t-shirts and DVDs is usually a better idea than killing yourself.
Everyone else who got the email has now decided that this person is a total fake and we shouldn't have anything to do with her. If she really had a problem she would go and get help instead of going shopping.
I don't know. I don't think that not wanting to talk to a shrink is proof positive that you're a fake. It wasn't like the email was an actual suicide note. People vent. Personally, I would not vent like that to a bunch of people before I meet them, but I suppose other people have different ideas of what is appropriate. I just thought that I should stay out of it cause I don't know her.
I don't care to "get help" by paying someone to ask me personal stuff either. Probably after talking about a lot of stuff that upsets me, I would just be more upset, and I would be told something like I would probably feel better if I got a job.
Duh.
Monday, February 09, 2009
500th post--Why one should not kill bad guys with your favorite Bat'leth
I should have posted this sooner. I meant to, but I didn't. I apoligize.
Okay, time has gotten away from me and I wasn't paying attention to the count, and here it is time for the 500th post.
Actually, it was time for the 500th post last week, but I forgot, and I wrote something completely silly. I cannot have that be my 500th post, so I will delete it once I finish this, and it will be as though it never really happened, like several episodes of Star Trek Voyager and the season of Dallas before Bobby steps out of the shower.
I realize that some of you have heard this from me before, but due to recent events I've decided to write it all down again, as I cannot remember how much was said before or whom it was said to. And I think that there would be similar reasons why one should not attempt to rob a 7-Eleven with a Bat'leth either.
(And, yes, I do know that the weapon in the recent news story turned out not to be a Bat'leth, but I thought it was still relevant anyway.)
Reasons not to murder whomever needs killing with a Bat'leth (or Ren Faire sword, or Jackal, or other collectible blade, or one-of-a-kind handmade weapon):
First of all, you never want to go after someone with something fancy like a Bat'leth. You want to choose the most mundane weapon that you are comfortable using. Common weapons include scissors, steak knives, letter openers, ice picks, and gardening tools. If it is known that you have some motive for killing the victim, and that the victim was killed with a Bat'leth, and that you have a Bat'leth, then you very quickly become the main suspect. But if the victim was killed with scissors, and just about everyone has scissors, then you may become lost among a number of other suspects.
Ideally, the murder weapon will be something that belongs to the victim, and it will not point to anyone. Or else the weapon will be something that belongs to another suspect and will at least not point to you.
Second, you will want to clean and dispose of the murder weapon. And you don't want to part with your Bat'leth, do you? You probably really like your Bat'leth, or you wouldn't have one in the first place. Most of the time a Bat'leth will cost more than scissors and scissors are easier to replace. In addition to whatever problem caused you to want the victim to die in the first place, don't let this final act cost you something that you value.
Third, a Bat'leth is a bit difficult to carry about in an inconspicuous manner. A Bat'leth will not fit inside of your purse or briefcase or book bag, while scissors and steak knives will. People will see you carrying your Bat'leth and wonder if you're about to kill someone with it. People who see you with your normal book bag, which may contain scissors, will not wonder about much of anything.
So that is about it. I think that my earlier bit was a little longer, but these were the main points. I just happened to have worked all this out one day, long before the guy started robbing convenience stores.
Now that I have written it down again, it seems to me that there might be a few reasons that you would want to kill someone with your Bat'leth.
Everyone who knows you knows that you are a nerd, and that you don't even take your action figures out of their packages, because it ruins their value as collectibles. If you can't stand the thought of ruining a toy, it is even less likely that you would want to risk damaging your Bat'leth by actually fighting someone with it. Actually killing someone with it would be even worse, as that would mean you would have to get blood on it and possibly get blood on the hand grips. Blood stains, and if you killed someone with your Bat'leth you might never get it clean again. So everyone would know that you would never deliberately kill someone with your Bat'leth. People would think that it had to be an accident, or something done in self-defense, or else you didn't really do it at all and someone did this with your weapon to try to frame you.
Or perhaps everyone already knows that you want to kill a certain person, and there is absolutely no way of that person ending up dead without everyone knowing that you are somehow responsible. You decide that your only option is to go ahead and do it yourself, but you're thinking ahead and planning an insanity defense. And of course you would have to be insane to kill someone with your beloved collectible Bat'leth. You can go ahead and skip all attempts at stealth and subterfuge and just kill the guy in front of everyone. Maybe to be on the safe side you should say something about believing the victim was a shape-shifting alien invader. That would explain why you disliked this person in the first place.
So I think that's about it now. If you don't want to get caught, don't use your Bat'leth. If you're sure that you would get caught anyway, use the Bat'leth and say it was an accident or self-defense, or else claim temporary insanity.
Okay, time has gotten away from me and I wasn't paying attention to the count, and here it is time for the 500th post.
Actually, it was time for the 500th post last week, but I forgot, and I wrote something completely silly. I cannot have that be my 500th post, so I will delete it once I finish this, and it will be as though it never really happened, like several episodes of Star Trek Voyager and the season of Dallas before Bobby steps out of the shower.
I realize that some of you have heard this from me before, but due to recent events I've decided to write it all down again, as I cannot remember how much was said before or whom it was said to. And I think that there would be similar reasons why one should not attempt to rob a 7-Eleven with a Bat'leth either.
(And, yes, I do know that the weapon in the recent news story turned out not to be a Bat'leth, but I thought it was still relevant anyway.)
Reasons not to murder whomever needs killing with a Bat'leth (or Ren Faire sword, or Jackal, or other collectible blade, or one-of-a-kind handmade weapon):
First of all, you never want to go after someone with something fancy like a Bat'leth. You want to choose the most mundane weapon that you are comfortable using. Common weapons include scissors, steak knives, letter openers, ice picks, and gardening tools. If it is known that you have some motive for killing the victim, and that the victim was killed with a Bat'leth, and that you have a Bat'leth, then you very quickly become the main suspect. But if the victim was killed with scissors, and just about everyone has scissors, then you may become lost among a number of other suspects.
Ideally, the murder weapon will be something that belongs to the victim, and it will not point to anyone. Or else the weapon will be something that belongs to another suspect and will at least not point to you.
Second, you will want to clean and dispose of the murder weapon. And you don't want to part with your Bat'leth, do you? You probably really like your Bat'leth, or you wouldn't have one in the first place. Most of the time a Bat'leth will cost more than scissors and scissors are easier to replace. In addition to whatever problem caused you to want the victim to die in the first place, don't let this final act cost you something that you value.
Third, a Bat'leth is a bit difficult to carry about in an inconspicuous manner. A Bat'leth will not fit inside of your purse or briefcase or book bag, while scissors and steak knives will. People will see you carrying your Bat'leth and wonder if you're about to kill someone with it. People who see you with your normal book bag, which may contain scissors, will not wonder about much of anything.
So that is about it. I think that my earlier bit was a little longer, but these were the main points. I just happened to have worked all this out one day, long before the guy started robbing convenience stores.
Now that I have written it down again, it seems to me that there might be a few reasons that you would want to kill someone with your Bat'leth.
Everyone who knows you knows that you are a nerd, and that you don't even take your action figures out of their packages, because it ruins their value as collectibles. If you can't stand the thought of ruining a toy, it is even less likely that you would want to risk damaging your Bat'leth by actually fighting someone with it. Actually killing someone with it would be even worse, as that would mean you would have to get blood on it and possibly get blood on the hand grips. Blood stains, and if you killed someone with your Bat'leth you might never get it clean again. So everyone would know that you would never deliberately kill someone with your Bat'leth. People would think that it had to be an accident, or something done in self-defense, or else you didn't really do it at all and someone did this with your weapon to try to frame you.
Or perhaps everyone already knows that you want to kill a certain person, and there is absolutely no way of that person ending up dead without everyone knowing that you are somehow responsible. You decide that your only option is to go ahead and do it yourself, but you're thinking ahead and planning an insanity defense. And of course you would have to be insane to kill someone with your beloved collectible Bat'leth. You can go ahead and skip all attempts at stealth and subterfuge and just kill the guy in front of everyone. Maybe to be on the safe side you should say something about believing the victim was a shape-shifting alien invader. That would explain why you disliked this person in the first place.
So I think that's about it now. If you don't want to get caught, don't use your Bat'leth. If you're sure that you would get caught anyway, use the Bat'leth and say it was an accident or self-defense, or else claim temporary insanity.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
The Internet was broke
At least, that is the way it seemed to me this morning.
I try to stay in bed until at least five thirty or so, even if I've already been awake for two hours or so. And then when I do get up at five thirty or six or so, I still try to be quiet for two or three hours. So I come in here and do stuff on the computer. And I try to do stuff that doesn't require sound, so I'm probably not using YouTube or Hulu that early in the morning.
I'm just trying to be considerate and not wake up my husband.
Not that my husband appreciates this. Often he does something to the computer during the night, and he doesn't set it up so that all will be well by six in the morning. So that is annoying to say the least. I'm trying to be quiet, and he screws up the thing that I do in the morning to try to be quiet.
So this morning I come in here to turn on the computer and find that not only has it been left on but Explorer is already up and on Google. Great. Not that it takes a long time to turn on the computer and get to Explorer and Google, but today I didn't have to wait even those first few minutes.
Or so I thought. Nothing seemed to work right. I kept getting messages that the address was invalid or the page could not be displayed. I knew I had the right address. Same address as yesterday.
So I finally get a few things to work, but I can't seem to really do anything. I can't use any links that require a password. So I can't log on to Blogger and I can't check my email and so on.
Well, sometimes Explorer just seems a little bit weird, and I switch to FireFox, which is usually slower but sometimes has less problems.
Nope. Same thing. Can't log on to anything. Can't check email. I get weird messages. Pictures are missing. YouTube says that all of the videos are no longer available.
The Internet must be broken.
Okay, it seems very unlikely that the Internet is broken. It must be something with the computer itself. And it must be my husband's fault.
But usually it is very clear when he has done something to the computer, and there's usually an indication of what has been done and how much longer it is going to be a problem and so forth. But there was nothing like that.
I was about ready to wake up my husband by pretending to strangle him.
Anyway, I shut down the computer for a minute or two and started it back up, and now it seems to be fine. I'm sure I've ruined something my husband wanted done, but by now he knows to have whatever it is finished before six, unless it is something really important, and then he at least needs to leave me a note.
I'm hungry. I rarely eat this early, and I've already had the leftover's from yesterday's free Denny's breakfast. I could just go and eat all kinds of other stuff, like maybe blueberry pop tarts. But I probably won't do that. I'll probably just have my yogurt and wait for lunch.
I haven't done anything useful since Saturday. Okay, maybe that isn't entirely correct. I've done a few errands and such, but that is about it. I can't seem to get anything done except when I have the place to myself, and sometimes not even then. I can't seem to focus on work when he is here, even if he is not in the same room and is either on the computer or reading or watching TV. It shouldn't be a problem, but somehow I just don't get anything done.
I've become my mother.
When he isn't here, I think about what I want to get done that day, which just seems like something I'll never get done. But I break it up into stuff that I just do for a little while here and there, and in between doing that I blog for a bit or I watch TV or I watch stuff on YouTube and Hulu. So it is like watch something for ten minutes and then get up and wash some dishes, go back to the computer for ten minutes and then get up and wash some more dishes and then ten minutes at the computer followed by washing some clothes and then watch something on TV while I eat lunch and then take the clothes to the dryer, etc....
But I don't do that when he is here, cause he's probably on the computer all day, except when we eat lunch or have to go to the library and run errands. So maybe try to do something similar by watching a DVD and stopping it every ten or fifteen minutes to go and wash dishes or sort the laundry or take out the trash or whatever.
So he's here, and I'm getting nothing done. And we go to the library, and I check out some DVDs of Enterprise. Not my favorite show, but I don't have the episodes all memorized like I have done with other shows, so maybe it's time to watch the show again.
And it isn't my husband's favorite show either. But after I get the DVDs, he decides to watch some of them with me. Well, that wasn't the idea for getting the DVDs, but I'm not going to be rude and send him to the other room if he's trying to be nice and wants to watch TV with me. But now I'm not stopping every ten minutes to do some work, I'm just watching TV all day.
Yesterday we went to get the free Grand Slam at Denny's. We got done with that at about ten or so, then picked up a few things and went home. And then we watched stuff we had taped the night before like The Big Bang Theory and House. And then we watched some DVDs. And then he didn't want to watch anymore, but by that time I had already wasted most of the day and didn't bother trying to do much work.
Then I suddenly didn't feel so good. It was around four. Then I realized that we hadn't eaten anything since we left Denny's, and I had only eaten the pancakes. So then we had chili cheese dogs. A bit after that I had yogurt, some peanut butter and some leftover Christmas candy. Then I didn't feel like eating anything else. At least, I wasn't hungry enough to get up and do anything about it.
So I spent four fifty on my free Denny's Grand Slam, and I spent less than seventy cents for the rest of the day.
Okay, so I'm weird.
He's awake now, so I think I'll go watch Enterprise.
I try to stay in bed until at least five thirty or so, even if I've already been awake for two hours or so. And then when I do get up at five thirty or six or so, I still try to be quiet for two or three hours. So I come in here and do stuff on the computer. And I try to do stuff that doesn't require sound, so I'm probably not using YouTube or Hulu that early in the morning.
I'm just trying to be considerate and not wake up my husband.
Not that my husband appreciates this. Often he does something to the computer during the night, and he doesn't set it up so that all will be well by six in the morning. So that is annoying to say the least. I'm trying to be quiet, and he screws up the thing that I do in the morning to try to be quiet.
So this morning I come in here to turn on the computer and find that not only has it been left on but Explorer is already up and on Google. Great. Not that it takes a long time to turn on the computer and get to Explorer and Google, but today I didn't have to wait even those first few minutes.
Or so I thought. Nothing seemed to work right. I kept getting messages that the address was invalid or the page could not be displayed. I knew I had the right address. Same address as yesterday.
So I finally get a few things to work, but I can't seem to really do anything. I can't use any links that require a password. So I can't log on to Blogger and I can't check my email and so on.
Well, sometimes Explorer just seems a little bit weird, and I switch to FireFox, which is usually slower but sometimes has less problems.
Nope. Same thing. Can't log on to anything. Can't check email. I get weird messages. Pictures are missing. YouTube says that all of the videos are no longer available.
The Internet must be broken.
Okay, it seems very unlikely that the Internet is broken. It must be something with the computer itself. And it must be my husband's fault.
But usually it is very clear when he has done something to the computer, and there's usually an indication of what has been done and how much longer it is going to be a problem and so forth. But there was nothing like that.
I was about ready to wake up my husband by pretending to strangle him.
Anyway, I shut down the computer for a minute or two and started it back up, and now it seems to be fine. I'm sure I've ruined something my husband wanted done, but by now he knows to have whatever it is finished before six, unless it is something really important, and then he at least needs to leave me a note.
I'm hungry. I rarely eat this early, and I've already had the leftover's from yesterday's free Denny's breakfast. I could just go and eat all kinds of other stuff, like maybe blueberry pop tarts. But I probably won't do that. I'll probably just have my yogurt and wait for lunch.
I haven't done anything useful since Saturday. Okay, maybe that isn't entirely correct. I've done a few errands and such, but that is about it. I can't seem to get anything done except when I have the place to myself, and sometimes not even then. I can't seem to focus on work when he is here, even if he is not in the same room and is either on the computer or reading or watching TV. It shouldn't be a problem, but somehow I just don't get anything done.
I've become my mother.
When he isn't here, I think about what I want to get done that day, which just seems like something I'll never get done. But I break it up into stuff that I just do for a little while here and there, and in between doing that I blog for a bit or I watch TV or I watch stuff on YouTube and Hulu. So it is like watch something for ten minutes and then get up and wash some dishes, go back to the computer for ten minutes and then get up and wash some more dishes and then ten minutes at the computer followed by washing some clothes and then watch something on TV while I eat lunch and then take the clothes to the dryer, etc....
But I don't do that when he is here, cause he's probably on the computer all day, except when we eat lunch or have to go to the library and run errands. So maybe try to do something similar by watching a DVD and stopping it every ten or fifteen minutes to go and wash dishes or sort the laundry or take out the trash or whatever.
So he's here, and I'm getting nothing done. And we go to the library, and I check out some DVDs of Enterprise. Not my favorite show, but I don't have the episodes all memorized like I have done with other shows, so maybe it's time to watch the show again.
And it isn't my husband's favorite show either. But after I get the DVDs, he decides to watch some of them with me. Well, that wasn't the idea for getting the DVDs, but I'm not going to be rude and send him to the other room if he's trying to be nice and wants to watch TV with me. But now I'm not stopping every ten minutes to do some work, I'm just watching TV all day.
Yesterday we went to get the free Grand Slam at Denny's. We got done with that at about ten or so, then picked up a few things and went home. And then we watched stuff we had taped the night before like The Big Bang Theory and House. And then we watched some DVDs. And then he didn't want to watch anymore, but by that time I had already wasted most of the day and didn't bother trying to do much work.
Then I suddenly didn't feel so good. It was around four. Then I realized that we hadn't eaten anything since we left Denny's, and I had only eaten the pancakes. So then we had chili cheese dogs. A bit after that I had yogurt, some peanut butter and some leftover Christmas candy. Then I didn't feel like eating anything else. At least, I wasn't hungry enough to get up and do anything about it.
So I spent four fifty on my free Denny's Grand Slam, and I spent less than seventy cents for the rest of the day.
Okay, so I'm weird.
He's awake now, so I think I'll go watch Enterprise.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
The free breakfast at Denny's
I wasn't sure when I wanted to try to get the free Grand Slam at Denny's. I was pretty sure that I didn't want to get up at six. Not that I wasn't awake then, but I didn't want to get up earlier than that to shower and such. And my husband was still asleep. Having no other plans for the day, it didn't really matter to me when we went.
I had this idea that maybe it would be a good idea to wait until about nine, because then people would have to give up and go to work if they had regular nine to five jobs. At about 8:30 we decided to go ahead and have a look. We have about four Denny's in the area, so we headed for one near a motel off of I-30. And I was surprised to see that only two people were waiting outside. But then we couldn't find a parking space that didn't clearly belong to the motel or someone else, and we didn't want to risk having the car towed, so we left.
Next we went to one near 360. There were a few more people waiting outside, but the parking was less of a problem because we could park in front of businesses that hadn't opened yet and empty buildings. By the time we parked the car and actually got in line, the few people who were in line outside of the building had grown to twenty or thirty people. Like everyone all got the same idea at the same time. But the line seemed to be moving okay.
I wish I had paid more attention to the time. We were just about to go into the building, and someone who just arrived asked how long we had been waiting. It was 9:15, and we guessed we'd had about a fifteen minute wait.
Once we were inside the building, we could see that there were still about twenty people in line in front of us. But the line was still moving, and we were seated at about 9:30, so the wait must have been about thirty minutes. And if you were by yourself or if your small group was willing to eat at the counter, you got seated even earlier than that.
I had heard that we were supposed to get coupon books too, and I didn't see any, so I asked for one. The waitress seemed confused and went to get someone else. So someone brought us some coupons for later, and reminded us that breakfast was free today, as long as we took care of the waitress, and that we could just have water if we didn't want to buy drinks. But I had already planned to buy drinks, so we ordered a Coke and coffee.
Our waitress didn't write anything down, just asked how we wanted our eggs and then came back a couple minutes later with our food and asked if we needed hot sauce or anything else. A bit later we noticed someone at another table was complaining about something. And I just don't know what you could possibly have to complain about during a free breakfast. Maybe they got her eggs wrong or something, but she seemed to be making a big deal about it.
My husband as usual ate really fast, and I only ate half my breakfast and hadn't even finished my soda. But after finishing the pancakes I wasn't really hungry for the rest of it anyway. I can usually only eat the pancakes or the other stuff, not both. The rest went in a box for later, and we got a coke to go and the bill and let them go ahead and clear the table for someone else.
I guessed correctly that we would owe seven dollars for our meal, but I wanted to leave the waitress an extra dollar, and I wanted to leave the tip in cash because I always wonder when or if the waitress actually gets the tip that I leave on the card. But I forgot to get change, so I just left her a five and paid for the drinks with a card. So we paid nine dollars for our free breakfast.
So that was okay. Probably not the best food that I've had for nine dollars, but it was fun to go anyway, just to say that we went.
I had this idea that maybe it would be a good idea to wait until about nine, because then people would have to give up and go to work if they had regular nine to five jobs. At about 8:30 we decided to go ahead and have a look. We have about four Denny's in the area, so we headed for one near a motel off of I-30. And I was surprised to see that only two people were waiting outside. But then we couldn't find a parking space that didn't clearly belong to the motel or someone else, and we didn't want to risk having the car towed, so we left.
Next we went to one near 360. There were a few more people waiting outside, but the parking was less of a problem because we could park in front of businesses that hadn't opened yet and empty buildings. By the time we parked the car and actually got in line, the few people who were in line outside of the building had grown to twenty or thirty people. Like everyone all got the same idea at the same time. But the line seemed to be moving okay.
I wish I had paid more attention to the time. We were just about to go into the building, and someone who just arrived asked how long we had been waiting. It was 9:15, and we guessed we'd had about a fifteen minute wait.
Once we were inside the building, we could see that there were still about twenty people in line in front of us. But the line was still moving, and we were seated at about 9:30, so the wait must have been about thirty minutes. And if you were by yourself or if your small group was willing to eat at the counter, you got seated even earlier than that.
I had heard that we were supposed to get coupon books too, and I didn't see any, so I asked for one. The waitress seemed confused and went to get someone else. So someone brought us some coupons for later, and reminded us that breakfast was free today, as long as we took care of the waitress, and that we could just have water if we didn't want to buy drinks. But I had already planned to buy drinks, so we ordered a Coke and coffee.
Our waitress didn't write anything down, just asked how we wanted our eggs and then came back a couple minutes later with our food and asked if we needed hot sauce or anything else. A bit later we noticed someone at another table was complaining about something. And I just don't know what you could possibly have to complain about during a free breakfast. Maybe they got her eggs wrong or something, but she seemed to be making a big deal about it.
My husband as usual ate really fast, and I only ate half my breakfast and hadn't even finished my soda. But after finishing the pancakes I wasn't really hungry for the rest of it anyway. I can usually only eat the pancakes or the other stuff, not both. The rest went in a box for later, and we got a coke to go and the bill and let them go ahead and clear the table for someone else.
I guessed correctly that we would owe seven dollars for our meal, but I wanted to leave the waitress an extra dollar, and I wanted to leave the tip in cash because I always wonder when or if the waitress actually gets the tip that I leave on the card. But I forgot to get change, so I just left her a five and paid for the drinks with a card. So we paid nine dollars for our free breakfast.
So that was okay. Probably not the best food that I've had for nine dollars, but it was fun to go anyway, just to say that we went.
The end of the two weeks
Okay, so yesterday was the last day of the two weeks I had originally planned to do the dollar a day thing. I didn't quite make it because I went over a little bit on Saturday because of someone's birthday party and on the Sunday before because of the annual meeting. But it still averages out to a dollar a day, which I suppose is the important thing.
Yesterday I ate:
.20 yogurt
.17 mac and cheese with free turkey
.18 black bean soup
.05 popcorn
.10 cup of cola
.29 chili dog
______________________
.99 daily total for Monday
.96 Tuesday Jan 20
.85 Wednesday Jan 21
.93 Thursday Jan 22
.71 Friday Jan 23
.95 Saturday Jan 24
1.05 Sunday Jan 25
1.00 Monday Jan 26
.65 Tuesday Jan 27
.85 Wednesday Jan 28
.90 Thursday Jan 29
.65 Friday
1.60 Saturday Jan 31
.78 Sunday Feb 1
.99 Monday Feb 2
_______________________
12.87 two week total
.92 daily average
So that's not bad. I wish that I had not gone off those two days, but I didn't wish it enough to skip either the meeting or the party. So I was thinking of doing it for another two weeks, but I realize now I would have to skip other things to do that, and I don't want to skip them either.
Like today I plan to go to Denny's for the free Grand Slam. I think that the "free" breakfast is going to cost the two of us about seven dollars with the drinks and the tip, but that's not too bad. And we haven't been out since two or three weeks ago when we went to Arby's. And with the money situation the way it is, I don't see us going out in the near future either. So we are going to go, if it isn't just way too crowded, and if it is we will try to get a rain check.
Still, I'm not quite finished with the dollar a day thing. For one thing, I have to see if I wasted any food and subtract that from the total. Like I think that I made way too many bean sprouts and will have to throw them away, and I think that I bought too many tomatoes. So I will have to clean out the frig later before I figure in that stuff.
But I think that I've learned some useful stuff. Like if a person can get by with only a dollar a day then most of the time I should be happy with something like a dollar fifty or two dollars a day. Or maybe two dollars a day except for an extra ten dollars on the weekends. Something like that. And I've learned that broccoli for a dollar a pound is a better deal by volume than asparagus at two dollars a pound, which seemed obvious, but that dollar a pound broccoli is still a better deal by volume than tomatoes at two or three pounds for a dollar, which did not seem obvious at all. Maybe if I cut up the produce and measure it right after I buy it will help me figure out that sort of thing, and maybe I'll stop buying too much and throw away less spoiled stuff.
Anyway, I will come back and write more about this later. Right now I have to get ready to go to Denny's.
Yesterday I ate:
.20 yogurt
.17 mac and cheese with free turkey
.18 black bean soup
.05 popcorn
.10 cup of cola
.29 chili dog
______________________
.99 daily total for Monday
.96 Tuesday Jan 20
.85 Wednesday Jan 21
.93 Thursday Jan 22
.71 Friday Jan 23
.95 Saturday Jan 24
1.05 Sunday Jan 25
1.00 Monday Jan 26
.65 Tuesday Jan 27
.85 Wednesday Jan 28
.90 Thursday Jan 29
.65 Friday
1.60 Saturday Jan 31
.78 Sunday Feb 1
.99 Monday Feb 2
_______________________
12.87 two week total
.92 daily average
So that's not bad. I wish that I had not gone off those two days, but I didn't wish it enough to skip either the meeting or the party. So I was thinking of doing it for another two weeks, but I realize now I would have to skip other things to do that, and I don't want to skip them either.
Like today I plan to go to Denny's for the free Grand Slam. I think that the "free" breakfast is going to cost the two of us about seven dollars with the drinks and the tip, but that's not too bad. And we haven't been out since two or three weeks ago when we went to Arby's. And with the money situation the way it is, I don't see us going out in the near future either. So we are going to go, if it isn't just way too crowded, and if it is we will try to get a rain check.
Still, I'm not quite finished with the dollar a day thing. For one thing, I have to see if I wasted any food and subtract that from the total. Like I think that I made way too many bean sprouts and will have to throw them away, and I think that I bought too many tomatoes. So I will have to clean out the frig later before I figure in that stuff.
But I think that I've learned some useful stuff. Like if a person can get by with only a dollar a day then most of the time I should be happy with something like a dollar fifty or two dollars a day. Or maybe two dollars a day except for an extra ten dollars on the weekends. Something like that. And I've learned that broccoli for a dollar a pound is a better deal by volume than asparagus at two dollars a pound, which seemed obvious, but that dollar a pound broccoli is still a better deal by volume than tomatoes at two or three pounds for a dollar, which did not seem obvious at all. Maybe if I cut up the produce and measure it right after I buy it will help me figure out that sort of thing, and maybe I'll stop buying too much and throw away less spoiled stuff.
Anyway, I will come back and write more about this later. Right now I have to get ready to go to Denny's.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Groundhog Day
Okay, so I have been reminded that it is Groundhog Day. And that reminds me of the movie Groundhog Day, which is a favorite movie of several family members. I like the movie just fine, but it isn't my favorite.
It isn't even my favorite story with this theme. Being a fan of sci fi, I had seen other time loop stories before Groundhog Day. Here is a Wikipedia article about time loop stories. I don't think that I have seen all of them. I may have to track down some of them.
The first movie I remember seeing was a made for TV movie based on Richard A. Lupoff's 12:01 PM. I haven't read the short story, but it was about a guy who kept having to relive the same hour, and there was nothing he could do about it, and he seemed to be the only one aware of the problem. The 12:01 movie made the story into a romance where Jonathan Silverman keeps reliving the same day, during which he has to both figure out how to get things back to normal and keep Helen Slater from being killed.
The short-lived series Daybreak was about a cop who keeps reliving the same day, during which he has to solve murders and hope that if he can set everything right that things will go back to normal.
Stargate's "Window of Opportunity" has Jack and Teal'c reliving the same day, but the rest of the Stargate team doesn't notice. They have to explain the problem to Sam and Daniel, watch the two of them try to figure out how to fix things, memorize what gets done, and then explain that step to Sam and Daniel so that they can figure out the next thing, which they then also have to memorize. In the middle of this they decide to take a break and do pleasant things like play golf. Among Stargate fans, this is one of the favorite episodes.
In real life, this is the fourteenth day of my trying to do the dollar a day thing. Tomorrow I plan to take a break from it to do the free Grand Slam thing at Denny's. I figure that "free" breakfast will cost us about seven dollars for drinks and a tip, which is about half what I plan to spend on grocery stuff for the rest of the week.
Sunday I ate:
.36 chili dog
.20 yogurt
.17 mac and cheese with free turkey
free cookie
.05 handful of chips
____________________
.78 daily total for Sunday
It isn't even my favorite story with this theme. Being a fan of sci fi, I had seen other time loop stories before Groundhog Day. Here is a Wikipedia article about time loop stories. I don't think that I have seen all of them. I may have to track down some of them.
The first movie I remember seeing was a made for TV movie based on Richard A. Lupoff's 12:01 PM. I haven't read the short story, but it was about a guy who kept having to relive the same hour, and there was nothing he could do about it, and he seemed to be the only one aware of the problem. The 12:01 movie made the story into a romance where Jonathan Silverman keeps reliving the same day, during which he has to both figure out how to get things back to normal and keep Helen Slater from being killed.
The short-lived series Daybreak was about a cop who keeps reliving the same day, during which he has to solve murders and hope that if he can set everything right that things will go back to normal.
Stargate's "Window of Opportunity" has Jack and Teal'c reliving the same day, but the rest of the Stargate team doesn't notice. They have to explain the problem to Sam and Daniel, watch the two of them try to figure out how to fix things, memorize what gets done, and then explain that step to Sam and Daniel so that they can figure out the next thing, which they then also have to memorize. In the middle of this they decide to take a break and do pleasant things like play golf. Among Stargate fans, this is one of the favorite episodes.
In real life, this is the fourteenth day of my trying to do the dollar a day thing. Tomorrow I plan to take a break from it to do the free Grand Slam thing at Denny's. I figure that "free" breakfast will cost us about seven dollars for drinks and a tip, which is about half what I plan to spend on grocery stuff for the rest of the week.
Sunday I ate:
.36 chili dog
.20 yogurt
.17 mac and cheese with free turkey
free cookie
.05 handful of chips
____________________
.78 daily total for Sunday
Sunday, February 01, 2009
A bit of fun at a party
Friday I had the place to myself, and as usually happens on the first day that I have the place to myself, I didn't get much done. Saturday was better, but I didn't do a whole lot then either as I didn't want to get too tired before the party. I finally decided on what to wear and what to bring and all of that, and spent a lot of the last two days watching reruns of The Outer Limits (nineties version).
I spent about a dollar on tomatoes and jalapenos and made yogurt cheese to go with them. My first thought was to get regular jalapenos to blend into the cheese, but then I decided that people don't like to eat green food when they can't tell what it is, so I bought one red jalapeno. But after tasting the cheese that wasn't hot enough, so after putting the cheese onto the tomato halves, I topped them with slices of regular green jalapenos. I washed out the cookie tray from last week so that I didn't have to worry about taking any dishes that might get lost if I wanted to leave early.
I need not have worried about that, as the party ended around eleven rather than one or two like I had expected. Maybe we are not allowed to use the building after midnight. I don't know. Anyway, I guess that the tomatoes were okay, as at the end of the evening I had put the covered tray and the four remaining tomatoes in the trash, only to see later that someone else had fished them out.
What can I say. Except for our host and hostess, I was the best dressed of the people who stayed in theme, though some other people showed up in nice pirate costumes. We were supposed to wear black and such, and I had black flowers and a black wedding veil from a Halloween party several years ago. Almost everyone else was in something black, and a vampire and three grim reapers showed up.
The wife of the birthday boy bought him a ring, and there were jokes about whether or not the ring was meant to be worn on his finger. Someone who has only been with us a bit over a year didn't get the joke, and actually said so out loud.
Sometimes it takes newbies a while to figure out they should keep quiet about such things. She will learn.
This morning I have a bit of a hangover, which is odd since I do not drink alcohol and I was in bed by about twelve. Last night was fun, but nothing really extreme, except maybe for the uncomfortable walk back to my car in heels. But this morning I felt really out of it and could have used a Coke, but of course on the one day that I wanted one enough to break with what I've been doing with the dollar a day thing, I forgot to get one and put it in the frig.
Friday I ate:
.20 yogurt
.05 popcorn
.05 half cup of cola
.18 black bean soup
.17 mac and cheese with free turkey
free cookie
________________________
.65 daily total for Friday
Saturday I ate:
.20 yogurt
.18 black bean soup
.17 mac and cheese with free turkey
free cookie
1.05 spent on tomatoes and peppers and such for party
free cake and soda and such at party
________________________________
1.60 daily total for Saturday
Today is Super Bowl Sunday, and while I have no plans I really have no idea what I might end up doing.
I spent about a dollar on tomatoes and jalapenos and made yogurt cheese to go with them. My first thought was to get regular jalapenos to blend into the cheese, but then I decided that people don't like to eat green food when they can't tell what it is, so I bought one red jalapeno. But after tasting the cheese that wasn't hot enough, so after putting the cheese onto the tomato halves, I topped them with slices of regular green jalapenos. I washed out the cookie tray from last week so that I didn't have to worry about taking any dishes that might get lost if I wanted to leave early.
I need not have worried about that, as the party ended around eleven rather than one or two like I had expected. Maybe we are not allowed to use the building after midnight. I don't know. Anyway, I guess that the tomatoes were okay, as at the end of the evening I had put the covered tray and the four remaining tomatoes in the trash, only to see later that someone else had fished them out.
What can I say. Except for our host and hostess, I was the best dressed of the people who stayed in theme, though some other people showed up in nice pirate costumes. We were supposed to wear black and such, and I had black flowers and a black wedding veil from a Halloween party several years ago. Almost everyone else was in something black, and a vampire and three grim reapers showed up.
The wife of the birthday boy bought him a ring, and there were jokes about whether or not the ring was meant to be worn on his finger. Someone who has only been with us a bit over a year didn't get the joke, and actually said so out loud.
Sometimes it takes newbies a while to figure out they should keep quiet about such things. She will learn.
This morning I have a bit of a hangover, which is odd since I do not drink alcohol and I was in bed by about twelve. Last night was fun, but nothing really extreme, except maybe for the uncomfortable walk back to my car in heels. But this morning I felt really out of it and could have used a Coke, but of course on the one day that I wanted one enough to break with what I've been doing with the dollar a day thing, I forgot to get one and put it in the frig.
Friday I ate:
.20 yogurt
.05 popcorn
.05 half cup of cola
.18 black bean soup
.17 mac and cheese with free turkey
free cookie
________________________
.65 daily total for Friday
Saturday I ate:
.20 yogurt
.18 black bean soup
.17 mac and cheese with free turkey
free cookie
1.05 spent on tomatoes and peppers and such for party
free cake and soda and such at party
________________________________
1.60 daily total for Saturday
Today is Super Bowl Sunday, and while I have no plans I really have no idea what I might end up doing.
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