So Michael and I are setting up everything on the new host. (I do all the work and Michael sits beside me and reads instructions and keeps me from panicking. [Michelle: “ACK! I can’t READ! What do I DO?” Michael: “Click here. Click here. Type this. You’re done.” Michelle: “I’m DONE?! Don’t I have to do MORE?” Michael: (goes to get a beer)])
Everything seems to be working well. Feel free to poke around and look for broken stuff however.
Is this thing on?
YES! YES IT IS!
Let me know if anyone has any difficulties or speed issues. I still have to fix a couple other things, but it looks like the transfer went smoothly!
YEEE HAW!
“What’s in the bag?”
“A Quantum Singularity.”
“Really? Where’s you get it?”
“Corner store. Got a great deal on it.”
“The store on the corner of North and Main?”
“Yup.”
“You get a certificate for it?”
“Nope. Like I said, it was a great deal.”
“So how do you know it’s the real deal?”
“Don’t. But figured it was worth a try.”
“Christ, you’re insane. That could kill you.”
“Aw, it’s not that bad. Those PSAs always exaggerate the danger of everything. Anyway, I’m gonnna open it here in a couple minutes. You wanna try some?”
“Hell no! I’m not a fool. Tell me you’re not going to try it here–you know there’s kids around the building.”
“It’ll be fine. He told me it was totally localized.”
“Shit. Gimme five minutes before you open that thing so I can get the hell away from here.”
“Whatever. See ya.”
“I doubt it.”
Barely made it down the block before I heard the soft pop and knew things had gone badly. Turned back around and saw a chunk of the building just missing. Thank god it looked like it was restricted to his apartment and hadn’t expanded further.
Turned around and kept on walking, the sirens wailing before I even turned the corner.
Happy Autumnal Equinox!
While we were in Wyoming, I discovered that the 28 degree morning temperatures really required a scarf to keep me warm, and I had neglected to bring a scarf (Gloves, yes. Hat, yes. Scarf, no.) So we ended up wandering around Jackson looking for a scarf.
I wanted to spend my money at a local business, but figured I’d end up taking what I could get, since Jackson is very much a tourist trap. Not only did I find a local business, but I found an organic and fair trade scarf there!
Although Whyoming Outfitters where I bought the scarf does not seem to be on line, the company that made the scarf is: Indigenous Fair trade + Organic. I figure that as someone with disposable income, I really should support fair trade and organic products whenever possible, and the higher prices reflect the true costs of the products as opposed to the prices at chains and superstores that are subsidized or bought at the price of paying employees a living wage.
Do I do this all the time? Of course not. I have a minimal amount of disposable income, I’m not rich. But it’s nice to know that when I am able to make those choices, there are companies that allow me to do so.
Many of you have noted that my site has been slow, non-responsive, or down in recent months.
I contacted customer support and received the following response:
It’s really sunny out today. Really really sunny.
I stopped by a blog I used to read all the time, but had stopped visiting awhile ago. Funny thing is that although it was a sudden break, there wasn’t anything negative about it. I got extremely busy and fell behind on my blog and comment reading, went to catch up, saw how many new comments had been made since my last visit and pretty much said, “I don’t have time for this,” and that was that.
I’ve dropped by a couple of times, but mostly just to glance around, so today I wandered over, read a few posts, and perused the comments.
What struck me was how polarized things had become in the past year.
To be honest, I stopped paying attention to politics quite awhile ago. I still avidly listen to the news, but have avoided political blogs and posts almost completely.
Why? Because all reading about politics was doing was making me extremely upset over a situation about which I can do nothing. No matter how much we wail and gnash our teeth, GWB is not going to be impeached and indicted. Fulminating about the whys and wherefores will change nothing.
No matter how much crying and screaming go on, our presidential and vice-presidential candidates are who they are, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
What I want to see is a discussion of the issues and policies the candidates will take. I want to know who their advisers will be–and more importantly–whether they will actually be advised by their cabinet.
Please note: advising does not mean blindly taking the advice one a handful of insiders. It means listening to differing points of view, considering all the options, and then determining the best choice. I want someone who will behave like Lincoln in selecting their cabinet members, listening to the opinions of their advisers, and then taking the burden of decision making upon themselves.
What I found was rumor and innuendo and personal attack. None of which are helpful, and none of which solve anything.
Why aren’t they helpful? Because at some point a blog reaches a critical mass and commenters with opposing views are silenced–not by the hosts, but by the sheer volume of those who believe strongly in one side of the issue and have becoming unwilling to hear whisper of something that does not fit their world view.
And I have to admit that to some degree this makes sense. The last seven and a half years have been a disaster, and if someone were to try to tell me they weren’t I’d think them a raving lunatic who had completely lost touch with reality. And at some point, the past and the future become intermingled. McCain has Bush cooties, and there’s little he can do at this point to brush them off. For better or worse, his support of Bush over his presidency has rightly or wrongly linked the two.
So what we have now are people who are projecting the ideas and motivations of Bush onto McCain. And from there they project the stupidity of the Bush administration onto McCain.
And the speculation about Palin is even worse.
Let’s face it, we can speculate as much as we want, but theorizing about McCain’s health and whether Palin has personality disorders achieves nothing except a general frothiness at the mouth that makes one coming upon you all unexpectedly want to back away in fear it really is rabies and the frothier is going to bite as soon as you turn your back.
Don’t get me wrong. There is no way in hell I’m voting for McCain. I’m a life long liberal and I really like Obama. But this polarization has achieved nothing other than making it harder than ever to get anything done, and the demonization of those who are willing to compromise to get things done.
So no, I won’t be perusing much other than my limited corner of the blogosphere until the election is over.
Then I can do little but hope that this will remain calm for the next three–or at least two–years.
While we were gone, apple butter from Janiece arrived.
Being a good granddaughter, I opened the box to make sure nothing had broken, and then closed the box back up for my grandmother.
Since we did the Grandmom exchange with my aunt today, Grandmom finally opened the apple butter.
The jar is now sitting by her chair–presumably so no one else will open it first. :)
Well, not right now. Right now, in fact, the air conditioner is on and cranking out cold air to keep the temperature nice and cool.
However, we are now prepared for winter.
You may or may not remember that back in the spring I broke our wood stove.
As it was a monstrosity and not extremely efficient and had several other problems, we decided to purchase a new wood stove. Luckily, we ordered our stove back in June, since apparently it’s impossible to find a good woodstove around here now–everyone seems to be sold out because of the current high fuel prices.
So the stove was installed Friday!
First and foremost, I cannot believe how *small* the new stove is!
It can hold more wood, in what seems to be half the size of the old stove! It’s well sealed, so smoke won’t escape all the time! The parts are easily replaceable (the floor model at the store was actually missing parts, because she’d taken it apart to replace parts for her customers so they didn’t have to wait for new parts to come in) which is just an added bonus.
Plus it’s got lots of interesting features.
It can be filled from the front or the top. The lid for the top is also a griddle, so we can actually cook on the stove! (The old stove was jacketed, and so was relatively cool to the touch, comparatively.) It has a swing-out ash tray with a carrying lid…
It is, essentially, awesome, and I can hardly wait for it to get cold, so we can light a fire!
His Furriness has beens strangely affectionate since we returned.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think he missed us.
Kat, hanging out.
I hate games like this.
(sigh)
ADDENDUM the First:
(sigh)
I hate seasons like this.
Went back to the gym today after more than a week off. Discovered I gained three pounds on vacation. This isn’t surprising, considering how much we ate, and how many days we had of doing next to nothing.
However, I mention this fact because it brought to mind the fact that I have no body image.
Seriously.
120 and 155 all look the same to me, and the only difference is how my clothes fit. So I have almost no gauge as to how I look. Doesn’t mean I haven’t tried to figure it out, however, looking in the mirror only causes me to look for flaws (thus we don’t have a full length mirror in the house).
The scale is also a problem, which is why I don’t have one in the house, and why I try to step on the scale only a couple times a week at the gym. Because lacking a body image, the only thing I really have to go by are the numbers on the scale, and those aren’t exceedingly reliable (water retention anyone?)
So how does some one develop a realistic body image? How do I learn what the numbers on the scale really mean? I know that my BMI is perfectly normal, but again, what does that mean? How do I learn to see myself as others see me? Is there even such a thing as an objective opinion on weight and body size?
The rational part of my brain goes, “this is unimportant and doesn’t matter in the slightest,” however, the OCD part of my brain grasps onto those numbers and wants to know what they truly mean. The rational part of my brain goes, “it doesn’t matter, stop thinking about it,” while the OCD part of my brain goes, “think of all those horribly dressed college students you see throughout the day. You don’t want to end up like THAT do you?” (Like that I mean dressing in a completely unflattering matter. So many females would be gorgeous if they dressed in something other than the “current styles.”)
So how do I learn these things? How do I internalize something that is completely external?
(And the first person to tell me “you look fine,” gets a smack. That’s not what this post is about.)
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