Recently in Other Category

I bought an external hard drive in December 2007 so I could backup my PC. Of course, the box containing the drive stayed unopened on the floor of my home office until this past Saturday - yes, 7 months of having but not using a backup system!

I bought a Western Digital WDG1T7500N My Book Pro Edition 750 GB from Amazon for $283 - the price is now $329.99. Using the Retrospect backup software that came with the drive, I setup an automatic daily backup running at 12:00am each evening which I may change because the backup doesn't run when the PC is in standby mode.

I tested a restore and it worked great!

Cleo napping in Jasmine's bed.

Earlier this week, Bill brought home the Thailand Coca Cola can. It is 2 of 5 in the Coca-Cola Olympic Games Collector Series for the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Plane dropping red fire retardant on the fire on the hillside of Eden Canyon in Castro Valley on June 19, 2008.

Bill brought this odd can of Coke home today! Koka-Kona Koka-Kora Koka-Kola [see Kat's comments below] is Russian for Coca-Cola.

When I thought the spelling was Koka-Kona, I of course immediately thought Kona, Hawaii!

The can is 1 of 5 in the Coca-Cola Olympic Games Collector Series for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. I'm interested to see the other 4 in the series! I didn't take a photo of it, but the regular Coca-Cola logo is also on the can (as seen on the right side of the second photo).

[Update] In Russian, it is still Coca-Cola. A Russian cursive lowercase l and uppercase L looks like a lowercase n in our A-Z alphabet. The HTML character is л which is л.

Today is the first of 11 3-day weekends for the summer. I attacked my long-time running list of Things To Do - and had a peaceful day organizing and relaxing!

1. Air in tires and tires rotated at Big O Tires (finally! was on the list for a few months)
2. Clean my car windows inside to remove the blurry film of gunk that accumulates over time (finally! was on the list for a few weeks)
3. Remove the torn car seat cover from the passenger side seat (I had already removed the driver's side seat cover years ago) (finally! been meaning to remove it for months)
4. Remove every piece of clothing from my closet that doesn't fit, that has a stain, that is so outdated that I wouldn't wear it even if I could fit into it
5. Sort through all of the extra hangers I've accumulated over the years; determine which type and color of hangers to keep; in my closet, replace hangers in colors I don't like with colors I do like; group similar types and colors of hangers together and put in a box for donation
6. Remove a bunch of buttons from my jewelry box (new clothes sometimes come with extra buttons and they end up in my jewelry box)
7. Organize my sewing box while putting the buttons away and looking for a particular button
8. Sew that button on a blouse so I can wear it again
9. Watch a sappy movie while cuddling with Cleo and cry at the end
10. Finally get around to putting clothes to be donated in bags - 8 plastic food-shopping bags!
11. Go to local donation place with clothes and extra hangers, discover they had already closed, come back home, and put the to-be-donated stuff in my craft room for my next weekday day off next Friday

And, now, Round Table pizza for dinner while watching the NASCAR truck race! Go Kyle Busch!

Another month since I posted… still not much going on. Bah.

Crochet: 4 completed lap blankets for donation, as well as a round "color wheel"-style lap blanket just big enough to cover my knees (which sometimes ache from being cold when I'm otherwise comfortable or even warm!). I made the color wheel-style blanket just to see how it could be done - and then I quickly got bored with it.

Gardening: Lots of plants moved or pulled out or planted in both the front and back gardens. Photos were taken before tearing down the vines and after, but I'm too lazy right now to fix 'em up for the blog and post 'em. The gardens have lots of color and are semi-full (some brown spots where soil shows through!) and will be very full as the weeks go by!

Bay Area weather: Too freakin' hot last week, especially Thursday through Saturday. I melted several times. Gardening in the heat is best done after a thorough soaking with water from the hose from hat-covered head to shoe-covered toes - I high recommend it! Sunscreen too, of course.

New stove/range: The very old 40-inch stove with 2 not-working burners and 1 not-working smaller oven was finally replaced. After a third burner decided to stop working, Bill was left with 1 burner and just couldn't seem to get the hang of cooking with only one. We talked about getting the stove repaired but discovered it would cost almost as much as getting a new stove. So, we got a new stove! It's another white 40-inch stove with 4 burners and 2 ovens (one small, one regular-sized) - a Frigidaire 40-inch Freestanding Electric Range with Self-Cleaning Primary Oven (FEF450BW).

Our now grown children will be surprised that the stove was finally replaced! For a very long time, there were only 2 working burners! I have photos of the old stove and will get photos of the new one soon(ish).

Greg's visit in late March: My son's visit with me in late March - and Bill's visit at the same time with his son in Maui - were great! Greg and I did a Lost: Season 2 marathon during his visit! We also went to SFMOMA in San Francisco one afternoon and walked around Yerba Buena Gardens across the street. I have photos to show, but I'm too lazy right now get them posted!

Bill did get stuck in Maui when Aloha Airlines went bankrupt and stopped flying planes, but I was able to do magical things via the Web that he couldn't do via the phone or in person! I got him a flight home the same day he was supposed to return home! Whoop!

My job: I moved to a new office space in the same building I moved to last summer. I'm now in an office with 2 yellow walls and 2 white walls, a long window, a smaller window, a lovely 3-sided desk, and its own air conditioning unit and portable heater. It's in the "north wing" of the building (actually, the garage of the old house converted to office space). There's a great view of the Bay from the smaller window, but because I'm light sensitive, the blinds are always closed so I don't really have a view at all. But that's OK with me - I have quiet and personal space and am quite comfortable in my new office!

The college switches to a 4 10-hour day schedule for the summer starting next week. I'm using comp time and vacation time to do 4 8-hour days instead. Nice!

NASCAR: As I predicted, Kyle Busch is kicking butt this year! ! And, Tony Stewart is also doing well, although he hasn't gotten a win yet this season.

Gas prices: I saw regular unleaded gas at $4.01 and $4.03 at two different gas stations on my way home today. Yikes. When will it stop? Or, better yet, go back to normal?

I just realized I haven't posted in a month! Not much going on, I guess.

On the crochet front: There are 5 more lap blankets to photograph and post about. I'm currently working on 2 more. I've been adding to my pattern collection through regular hunts on eBay.

On the Bay Area weather front: There have been a few rainy days in the past few weeks, but mostly it's been sunny - and today is just beautiful! I still haven't gotten the gardening bug, but I expect I will with more sunny weekends.

On the home front: Cleo and Jasmine are healthy and loving. Bill and I are healthy, not-so-wealthy (but we're comfortable), and wise!

Bill has said he wants to take very other Friday off during the time the college where I work switches to 4 10-hour day work weeks this summer. Hmmm, we'll see if that really happens! The workaholic in him may not let him take 3-day weekends through the summer. He works most Saturdays now - which means 1-day weekends. What's he going to do with himself during regular 3-day weekends? Hmmm, let's see…I suppose he can start by finishing painting the trim on the house! Right now, we're probably not going to re-paint the house, since the medium grey color looks better with the white trim.

On the money front: Gas prices are going up. Food prices are going up. The stock market goes up, then down, then up, then down. Interest rates are down. My retirement account balances are down.

On the California state budget front: The state is cutting education budgets this year and next year. This "year" is a fiscal year that ends June 30, 2008. So, the budget cuts for this "year" need to be made out of the remaining 3 months or so of a budget that was prepared in fall 2006 and has been guiding the college since July 1, 2007.

And next year's budget (July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009) is also being cut, including that we won't be getting increases in funding that had been expected (well, as "expected" as you can get when you know the state is having budget problems). So that means another hiring freeze, increasing expenses (for utilities and supplies and equipment and computers and software and …) out of a budget that isn't increasing, and more cut backs and doing without at the college.

We haven't come back from the last big budget cuts several years ago. We still put off buying office supplies. We still have unfilled positions, with other people picking up those duties - which makes for very busy (and potentially burned-out) workers.

There are things we should or could be doing that we can't do because there aren't enough people, there isn't enough money for the people or supplies or equipment, there isn't enough time in the day to do what needs to be done.

Ack. Enough of that depressing talk.

On the family front: My son will be visiting for a few days next week! Whoop! And I'm taking 3 days vacation next week. I think a 2-day work week is just what I need - as long as the nice sunny springtime weather holds!

Bill is flying to Maui on Tuesday to visit his son for about a week. And, no, I don't mind him going to Hawaii without me. After our last trip to Maui in July last year for Billy's wedding, I'm all Maui-ed out and don't want to go back. Too windy, too crowded, incompetent airline staff, reserved seats that weren't reserved, too windy, too crowded. Did I mention too crowded and too windy? Oh, and incompetent airline staff and no seats reserved even though I reserved seats? Did I mention crying - not just a few tears, but real crying - in frustration and anger and flying-related stress after finally getting through security? No, I'm definitely not ready for another Maui trip.

Or any other trip requiring a airplane.

Even my December trip to Oregon to visit my son just about wore me out - 2 flight delays and a flight switch.

On the job front: After over 6 years at the college, I still enjoy my job. There are projects and enhancements - and a redesign - that need to happen, but I don't have the time and there doesn't seem to be money in the budget to get me a reliable, knowledgeable assistant, so those things are remaining undone. As they have for the past 3-4 years. The website design is 6 years old and needs to be changed. I'm gradually, as time permits, doing what I can behind the scenes in the XHTML markup to make it more straightforward to switch over to a new design when (if) the time comes.

I like the people. I like the higher education environment. I like the campus location, nestled in the foothills surrounded by open hillsides, trees, cows, horses, birds, and squirrels. I feel I'm appreciated, valued, and respected as a person and in my job. I'm not so keen on some things and a couple of the people can be very irritating, but the advantages and things I like far outweigh those.

On the NASCAR front: My boys Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch are doing well so far! Kyle is number 1 in points! I still say he's gonna win the Cup this year.

Hubby bought himself a new toy Monday night! Today was the first day I could see it since mornings are dark and evenings are dark!

A 2008 Chevrolet Colorado LT Crew Cab in Ruby Red. With the higher gas prices and about 9 miles per gallon, random things going wrong here and there which needed fixing on his 1997 Chevrolet Silverado Z71, and a $200+ registration fee coming due, he wanted a new, more dependable truck with better gas mileage. So, here it is!

Most of the time, his toys are more expensive than mine!

His: New truck, motorcycle, table saw, etc.

Mine: Small digital cameras, sewing machine, fabric, crochet books,… - even the Dell XPS 400 desktop computer I bought in April 2006 was only $2,245.