Life Or Something Like It: Life In General Archives

Shoot me now

By Laura Thill on January 21, 2010 12:54 PM | 2 Comments

Apparently the 80's are back. And it's scarier than first thought. In the past two days I've seen:

- A girl with "big hair and bangs", wearing a purple scarf as a headband, with matching purple sweater and leggings. And fur ankle booties.

- A girl wearing "neon" blue jeans with a "neon" pink top, with matching mascara and eye shadow. And fur ankle booties.

So far it hasn't spread to the guys.... yet.

I thought we took the 80's out back to be shot in 1995?

I swear it's a conspiracy

By Laura Thill on January 8, 2010 8:12 AM | No Comments

This was going to be a "ate potato chips and went to bed" entry, really it was. Not much happened since Christmas. We had an awesome holiday. For New Years we partied with friends, and compared expensive champagne to cheap sparkling wine... the latter won. There was a little frustration with the neighbors when their sump pump created an ice lake in front of our driveway, that I had to break up by hand so it wouldn't get covered in snow. But that was offset by the purchase of video games with gift $$$, a PS3, and a new airport express. A little more than we planned on, but not severe.

*cue ominous music*

Then yesterday, what I would give to have a dagger of time and the power to rewind. First, overnight we both heard a large thump, enough to warrant me getting out of bed. But Dan stopped me, "It's fine. They're just playing." In the morning after opening the drapes, I noticed a large pool of water near the sliding doors. Immediately thinking snow got through the seal, I put down towels, feel for drafts at the door, throw the drapes over a chair and...

The cat's water bowl is overflowing. The 0.5 gal reservoir empty, it was full when we went to bed. The carpet is soaked and has leaked onto the laminate. Furious and confused, I start water damage control while my coffee gets cold. (Dan had opted to stay home, so he was busying clearing the driveway and brining in wood for the fire.) After reheating my coffee, I did a post-mortem on the water system and noticed large scratches on the reservoir jug. When held up to light, two of these scratches punctured the jug. Being a gravity system, water flow is regulated by air pressure, even a little hole will break the system. Fine. We have a duplicate jug downstairs, problem solved.

*cue more ominous music*

That evening, whilst carefully setting the laptop on the table to charge, the top of my water bottle broke off in my hand, causing the bottle to fall out of my hand, onto the keyboard.

I quickly hit the power button and began mopping up water and praying. After drying the top, flipping the laptop upside down, no water dripped out. Satisfied, I turned it on, and yep, everything seemed fine. I continued browsing until bedtime. Crisis averted!

*cue even more ominous music*

This morning, after a quiet night, I awoke to another flood from the cats water bowl. The reservoir jug has exactly one scratch one it, a scratch that starts with a puncture hole. If there were ever a case for declawing, this would be it. After cleaning up, again, I try to relax with fresh coffee and a little time on the LRR forums.

Hm... why is coffee straight from the pot cool? I don't use that much cream. Oh well, we have a french press and a microwave, deal with dying coffee pot later.

Ah, the forums are back up. Hm, that's interesting, I need to quote that and... wha? Is num lock on? What's with the apostrophe key? And the colon key? Ugh, the other alphas are ok, must have triggered that weird atl+ combo again that locks random parts of the keyboard.

Reboot. Um, yes, that was my password, and no caps lock isn't on.

Wait. *...*...nothing...*...........

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

Currently I'm waiting for the fire to get warm enough, because the hair dryer didn't help at all.

** the admin account password uses a different key that's broken as well

Update: Well, the USB ports still work, so with the addition of a keyboard the laptop is now a desktop. And volume control only through system prefs. But it boots and has network connectivity. Yay?

Holidays Make Me Grumpy III

By Laura Thill on December 12, 2009 11:33 AM | No Comments

Ok - one more thing. It's not related to Christmas. It's the year/decade/whatever retrospective.

For at least 2 weeks, major news sites have been publishing "the last 10 years" retrospectives, some even dared to push out "2009 in review." Because nothing EVER happens between Dec. 1st and January 1st. Especially not between Dec. 25th and Dec. 31st...ahem, 2003, 2006, anyone? (if you're still in the dark, Wikipedia has a short list)

As if finals, fending off the zombie hordes at the mall, celebrating a major holiday with my family and dealing with nasty weather isn't enough, I need to reflect on a year that isn't over yet?

To add insult to injury... have you ever noticed how the news is usually pretty slow during the first few days of January? (not always, but usually slower than say, the last week of December) Probably because most of the world is still hungover from celebrating the end of a Gregorian calendar cycle. Wouldn't that be a great time for news outlets to run something about what just happened in the past year/decade/century/millennium? Nah, news about which movie stars partied where and how hungover they are is much more interesting...

Gah.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

By Laura Thill on December 12, 2009 7:59 AM | No Comments

Ok, all the griping is over.... for now. But still on the subject of Christmas:

It seemed like a good idea at the time. (tm)

In an effort to save on shipping, wrapping, and effort I had a great idea: Send the URL of our Amazon.com wish lists to everyone and have the items shipped directly to us. Dan and I religiously track packages [junecloud.com], so we'd know which boxes are presents. Then just smack a bow on top, and put with the other presents until Christmas morning! And then we wouldn't look like slackers for doing the same thing.....

So right after Thanksgiving, Dan's mom e-mailed to say that packages were coming. She loved the idea of not having to collect, wrap and re-ship everything. She also said there would be gift notes inside to tell us who gets what and from whom. Perfect!

Then a package arrives that isn't from Amazon.com, and we have no idea what's inside. It's addressed to Dan... so we figure it must be a present. But from whom? A few days later, Dan is talking to one of his sisters and she mentions that some of our gifts have shipped. Ah, mystery solved.

Except that more UPs (Unexplainable Packages) keep arriving.

"Um, your mom said we had 3 coming?"

"Right, those 3 on the corner. And we know these 2 are from Kelly."

"Supposedly. But I think that ones a duplicate. It's from the same company."

"Ok... so who are these 5 from?"

"I dunno, Jennifer?"

"Um, but what if we're wrong? How are we going to know who sent what?"

And then the realization hit.

(Laura and Dan look at each other, then turn to the presents artistically arranged on the entertainment center, then turn back to each other with looks of terror)

We will be opening gifts without knowing who sent them, therefore having to make fools of ourselves during the Christmas Day Family Teleconference by asking who sent what.

(cue scary music)

This episode of "It seemed like a good idea at the time"(tm) brought to you by the annoying traditions of the season. It may be a lot of work, but just wrap the presents and mail them yourself. At least shipping was free one-way.

Non sequitur

By Laura Thill on December 3, 2009 9:20 PM | No Comments

You know what's weird? When the university administrative staff thinks it's a good idea to send obituaries to the CAMPUS WIDE LISTSERV. Yeah, so at least 4 current/former staff/faculty have died this *semester*....should you really be telling students this? Right at finals?

Holidays make me grumpy part II

By Laura Thill on December 1, 2009 6:52 AM | No Comments

One word: Shopping. And the root cause of shopping - presents.

Do I really need a paragraph on Black Friday? Suffice to say, we have a tradition of staying at home for the 3 days following Thanksgiving. Just in case some zombie shoppers get lost on the way to the mall.

But why do normal people suddenly become ravenous over store sales? Oh right, because if little Timmy doesn't get all 3 gaming consoles, a new computer AND and Tickle-Me Elmo this year, he'll cry. That may be a bit of exaggeration... well, no, not really. Yes, Jesus is the Reason etc, and we give gifts to each other because God gave us the greatest gift ever... wait, isn't salvation tied to the resurrection? Don't we already have a holiday for that?

If you've ever said something along the lines of: "We still need a fourth gift for Grandma, and a more stuffers (trans. items for a stocking) for Bobby so he'll have more stuff to open than Cousin Bill"....stop, sit, think.

1. You've probably already complained at least once that your kids never play with their new toys more than a few days after Christmas.

2. You've definitely complained that your kids have too much stuff. And no, grandparents aren't the only reason.

3. You are probably dreading whatever useless and/or ugly knick-knack Aunt Marge is going give you this year.

Why not just cut the madness? Yes, Jesus got a bunch of cool baby stuff...ok, only the gold was cool, the frankincense and myrrh were symbolic...but that's still only 3 presents. And he's JESUS, savior of the world, son of God, etc. And YOU need a pile of presents because...? That's what I thought.

We're instituting the 1 present rule for family, and I can say Dan is only getting a few things he really needs anyway. If we had kids, they'd be getting the figurative socks and underwear, with A chocolate santa. Seriously, the gift I want most is to wake up in my own home on Christmas morning and spend a quiet day with those I love most. If I get some new bath salts too... woo! And I can say from experience - parents, if Christmas presents are your way of "making it up" to your kids... the kids will still need therapy, and so do you.

Holidays make me grumpy part I

By Laura Thill on November 29, 2009 8:45 AM | No Comments

It's the most over-hyped meaningless time of the year when people do stuff in the name of celebrating an event they probably don't believe in. And if that sentence makes me Scrooge, so be it. There are so many things about the "holiday season" that irk me, and this is the year to vent. In no particular order.

Christmas lights - especially large outdoor displays.

I've heard the "the lights represent the Light of Christ" reason for lighting of the tree (symbol of life in many religions), but really, all Jesus got was one star. I'm pretty sure that star didn't create half light pollution of a "drive through winter wonderland", or create a fraction of the pollution as generating the electricity to power those light displays. No, electricity isn't 100% clean, even from wind and sun. Do you know what goes into those photovoltaic cells? And how do you think kinetic energy gets converted into electric energy...magic?

We're not hippies at Thill House, but we are environmentally conscious. Try to only use electric light when necessary (e.g. - before sunrise and after sunset), have CFL bulbs, LED TV, gas heat (much more efficient), R19 insulation in the walls and R38 in the ceiling, Low-E coated windows. And only use outdoor lighting when expecting company.

Does this mean we don't use lights at Christmas? No, and I don't think it's hypocritical to be "green" and have a lighted Christmas tree. However, if you notice an severe uptick in your electric bill during November/December that is directly related your Christmas light display, that's crossing the line.

Here's our list:

Outside: One lighted wreath and a garland around the front door (1.5 strings).

Inside: Big tree (4 strings), little tree (1 string), 1 garland on mantle

All on timers. The most this ever cost us was around $5 (for the whole month), it's usually around $2.

So as you're griping about "having" to climb on the roof to wrap the chimney in lights and put up the eighth reindeer, remember that Jesus isn't giving out points based on how many lights you put up at Christmas. Maybe that extra $200 on your electric bill would be better spent at your favorite charity?

Being political in a healthy way

By Laura Thill on November 23, 2009 7:05 AM | No Comments

This story has been making the rounds on the net - woman gets her health benefits pulled over Facebook pics. Catch? This is in Canada - the woman is Canadian, her insurer is Canadian.

So, with all the healthcare debate going on now - I'm going to post my two cents for the internet and be done with it.

1. Healthcare system in America needs to be fixed.

2. National healthcare is not the answer.

Having read Random Acts of Reality and Nee Naw it's apparent, the UK healthcare system has issues.... just different issues from US healthcare. I'm going to postulate that any health insurance or national healthcare plan in the WORLD has issues. (if your country is perfect please let me know.)

So, all the "let's get insurance like Canada/UK/<insert country>!" folks, please realize:

You are handing back the flaming bag of dog poop that is US healthcare, and picking up another bag of flaming dog poop.

Well, if I'm so smart, what's my brilliant plan?

If you must have an "insurance" system, it should be more like personal property insurance. Money put away for emergencies - major surgery, cancer treatments, extreme neo-natal care, etc.

*rolls eyes* But, we all know the other types insurance in the US don't have issues. So...

Why have health insurance at all? Shit happens and it sucks if the cost exceeds your emergency savings. But...what? You don't have a savings account that is for emergencies only? Hmmmm.....

Health is not predictable, human life doesn't follow mathematical models well. For every "trend" there are people like me who don't fit the model and end up being penalized because the information about my genetic condition didn't exist in in 1976.

Yes, if there is no health "insurance" some people will die because they can't afford cancer treatments. News flash - we all will die. I could be hit by an idiot on I-70 and die while driving to class today.

The "free" market solve isn't going to solve all our problems, but it will require the least amount of government intervention, and IMHO, that's the best solution.

It doesn't get much better

By Laura Thill on November 17, 2009 7:29 PM | No Comments

I took a nap in front of the fire today. Now I'm doing homework by firelight. Doesn't get much better than that.

Oh wait, add a glass of Syrah from Paris Winery.

Yeah.

What to write about?

By Laura Thill on September 23, 2009 4:56 PM | No Comments

I hate correspondence. I love my friends, I love hearing about what you do and where you are now. But I hate writing letters, even e-mail letters. Which explains the mass e-mail, semi-customized letter to the members of my family who refuse to stop talking to me. It went something like this:

"Finished my first year of music school. Dan's company is trying to see how much salary/benefits abuse he'll take before leaving. Job over the summer didn't give me half the hours expected. Ability to stay at this school trashed in the first week."

Honestly, that's about the last 6 months or so. No, there is nothing good right now. We're still making ends, and I've lost a few pounds. Or maybe it's just water weight from crying so much.

Did everyone have That Guy/Girl, probably a high school SO? The one you really loved, who broke up with you to date someone else? Remember what it felt like to walk into class everyday and see them holding hands? Remember how you would do anything to not run into them? Yeah, that's every day when I go to class. Everyone sits around in little cliques; vocal jazz, opera workshop, string quartets, jazz combos, and I sit there alone. And have to see the professor who said those awful things, and know she controls my grades.

As someone put it : "Well, yeah it sucks but you're always depressed and no one else sees it that way."

Yup girl, you're right. No one else can see it my way, and I wouldn't really expect anyone to want to talk to the person so "bad" I'd drag everyone else down....

Oh wait, got sidetracked. Hm... stuff to write about. Well, it was an ok week. A random cellist gave me cheese fries for lunch one day. And I got to walk on the AB stage at the Touhill. And my french teacher is going to let me reschedule a test. There, see, I can be positive. Kinda.

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

Recently in Life In General Category