ATVs & Bible Covers

I'm not kidding. I was just looking at the Tractor Supply Company Web site, after taking their survey to win a $2,500 TSC gift card, and they have the oddest assortment of products for purchase. They have to be one of the only stores where you can purchase an ATV, and then in the same transaction, get a brand new cover for your Bible (to protect it while you're riding around with it on your brand new ATV!) So weird.

At any rate, I decided to finally check out the new TSC that just opened a couple weeks ago just before you get to Wal-Mart on Lexington Road. We received their grand opening circular in the mail the other day, and as we needed cat food (and they had a good deal on it), I decided to check them out. As it was their grand opening, they were also giving everyone 10% off their entire first purchase. I ended up buying a bag of cat food that was just shy of 22 pounds, and a 40 pound bag of bird seed, all for the incredibly reasonable price of $25.02 (tax included.) Not bad at all! I'm sure I will return to TSC in the future!

I was going to make this a MUCH longer post, but my eyes are tired, so I'm going to cut this short. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Peace.

A Little Bird Told Me

Okay, in my continuing quest towards Supreme Geekhood, I have added my Twitter feed to the sidebar of my blog. I've never really used it that much since I signed up, but it's kind of a fun way to keep in touch with people, and I can post updates from my phone (like I can for Blogger, FaceBook, and various other time-wasting Web sites. lol)

So if you want to know what's going on in my life lately, in 140 characters or less, check out my Twitter feed, and follow me if you like. Bring out the Inner Geek in your own self! *grinz*

And Then There Was One...

...That didn't make it. The other 5 kittens appear to be hail and hearty. Quite the opposite of what we were expecting after the first night.

We thought we'd end up with 1 healthy kitten, and 5 dead ones. Four of the "near dead" ones were able to survive, with a little help from us and lots of TLC from Patches, but the last one just wasn't strong enough to compete for food with it's brothers and sisters, and sadly it didn't make it. But as the saying goes, only the strong survive, especially in nature.

So now we're left with 2 black/dark grey ones, and 3 solid white ones with black patches on their heads (like their mom.) I met a lady while I was at work who wants to take at least one of them when they get a bit older, but we'll need to find homes for the others most likely. So if you hear of anyone who wants a cute little ball of fur, just let us know.

And speaking of cute little balls of fur (although they look more like moles at the moment), here are some new pictures I took of them today.

Waiting...

I haven't posted any kitten pictures yet, because we're still waiting to see if they all make it. Six were born; for various reasons 1 ended up being singled out for preferential care last night, and this morning I thought we had 1 very lively one and 5 rather dead ones on our hands. With a lot of TLC, the current count is - 1 extremely lively one, 4 lively ones, and 1 that wasn't do so well, but we hope it will make it.

I'll keep everyone posted, and put some pictures up when I know how many kittens make it. Stay tuned.

And if you WANT a kitten in a couple weeks, when they're ready to be weaned from their mom, just let me know! :)

Coming Soon To A Blog Near You...KITTENS

Patches had her kittens this afternoon. (It's about time too, because she'd gotten SO big that it was hard for her to move around, and jump/climb up on things!) At any rate, there are 6 tiny balls of fur (quite a lot for a first litter!) Three of them are basically solid black (with at least 1 having dark stripes/bands on it's legs (the back ones at least)); and the other 3 are solid white, with 2 of them having black "patches" on their heads (and possibly other places on their bodies) like their mom (but MUCH darker.) We're still waiting to see what the last one born looks like. It's basically solid white, but it still needs a lot of TLC to actually look like a proper kitten.

I'll try to put some pictures online later tonight (tomorrow at the latest), and possibly even a video. I actually watched the last kitten being born, which was kind of a novel experience. Usually we just come home one day and there are several extra "mini-cats" wandering around. It was neat to actually see the birth of one.

They're all under the side porch at the moment, safely out of the way. I have a lady I met at work who wants to take at least one of them off our hands when it's old enough, but we'll need to find good, loving homes for the others. So if you know of anyone who would like a kitten for themselves, or for their children, please let me know.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by, and I'll try to post some pictures soon.

New Pictures Online

I added some new pictures to my FMD Photography site from Watson Mill Bridge State Park. I went out there again today and walked along the other side of the river this time. It's not quite as interesting photography-wise (to me anyway, although it has better access to some great rocks to sit on out in mid-stream), but it's got a great bike trail. Now I just need a mountain bike...

Funny Stuff I Found Online

We sell these things at work from time to time, but I've never checked out their Web site. Watch the video on the home page, it's hysterical! lol

Despair, Inc.

This site basically offers the same thing (sans the amusing video), but is intended for ACTUAL motivational purposes:

Motivator

I found these sites on a cool photography Web site called Photojojo, which I in turn found out about on the I HEART Faces blog. Man, I have all kinds of plugs in this post! lol

Anyway, check them out if you want, and if you're into photography, sign up for the Photojojo newsletter. Have a great evening everyone! :)

Something To Make You Smile

I found this quite randomly while I was browsing the COLOURlovers Web site. It was a "modern art experiment" performed in London, to try and add a little cheer to a dreary world, and bring a smile to everyone's face. This would be so much fun to try! :)

HappyClouds

Finally

Man, that took forever!

The pictures are finally online on my FMD Photography blog though. They spread over 2 pages, so once you get to the bottom of the first page, you have to click on the "Older Posts" link to go back to the first page and view the rest of them.

Due to the various filters and whatnot that I ran on the pictures, many of them look more like painted pictures than photographic images, but most of them still look kind of cool. I REALLY need to get a decent dSLR camera that takes high resolution TIF or RAW images. These compressed JPGs just don't cut it!

Anyway, check them out, and I hope you enjoy them. Please leave comments so I know people are actually looking at them, and so that all the time I spent taking, preparing, and uploading them will be worthwhile. Thanks. :)

Safely There

Monica just called from outside her hotel room in RI. It's freezing cold there, but she arrived safely, and is about to tuck into a warm bed to get a good night's rest. Ryan (I believe that's what she said his name was) will be there to pick her up around 10 AM in the morning, and then she'll have meetings with the agencies, and dinner with everyone before returning home via Charlotte tomorrow evening.

In Production

Okay, I've picked out the pictures I want to post to my blog. Now I'm in the process of preparing them for the Web. There are quite a few pictures to start with, so this is taking some time. Also, I'm running some actions on them in Photoshop to resize them and give them a "frame", so that is adding to the time. Then I have to actually upload all of the pictures, and considering that I can only upload 5 at a time, that also is making this a very slow process. I'll have them online tonight though, so keep an eye out for them. (Or look at them tomorrow, if you're asleep by the time they go live. lol)

Stay tuned, I'll have them up soon. :)

The Bachelor Revisited

Monica will be on her way to Philly in about half an hour or so, on a stop between here and Providence. She's got just shy of an hour layover in Philly, then it's back on another plane to RI, where she will enjoy a chilly 33 degree night tonight. Tomorrow should be nice for her meetings though, if breezy - partly cloudy, 56 degrees, and 15-25mph winds. At any rate, I'm once again doing the whole "bachelor" gig, if only for a day or two. Catholic HEART Workcamp asked Monica to help out with one of the summer camps in RI this year, so she's heading up there this evening to spend the day meeting with the agencies tomorrow, before returning home tomorrow night.

-------------------------------------

**Just got a text message that she's boarding her first plane. Everyone pray for a safe flight for her!**

-------------------------------------

So on my day off today, with the weather nice for a change, after days of rain, I decided to head back out to Watson Mill Bridge State Park. I took all sorts of interesting pictures, and once I've had a chance to go through them all, and pick out the best ones, I'll post them on my FMD Photography site for everyone to look at.

So give me a couple hours, and then check out the site later this evening. Some of the pictures should be fun (I took lots of macro photographs of plants, insects, and spiders.) In the meantime, get outside, and enjoy the lovely weather we're having (it's supposed to rain again in a couple days, so you'd better enjoy it now!) Take care all. Peace.

Ironic Foreshadowing

I had an amusing moment at work tonight.

Every day, when we're recovering the aisles of merchandise after closing, we find stuff scattered all over the store, far from its usual home. Pens will be with labels, business card holders will be with overhead projectors, etc. Tonight was no exception...except for one item. Pictured below is the DVD based Windows PC game Prison Tycoon 4: Supermax. As I picked it up off a shelf of storage accessories, I thought to myself "Wouldn't it be funny if someone stole game!"

Pulling the DVD casing out of it's jacket, I found that's exactly what had happened. Someone had STOLEN a game about running a prison and prison life! Is that ironic foreshadowing or what?!? Were they doing some field research, or merely see what "jail life" could be like in the future, if they continued down this path of theft and wrong doing?

Anyway, I found it amusing, so I thought I'd share it with you all. It made me laugh, just thinking about the poor idiot out there who is probably enjoying this game, not realizing that their future could end up like part of the game they stole. Isn't life wonderful! lol

*Author's Note - When I came into work today, I saw the DVD disc for this game on the desk in the manager's office. It was scratched up and cracked, but someone did apparently find it. Not sure what happened exactly, but it still appears as if someone tried to steal it. Either that or someone just thought it would be fun to open the game, remove the DVD, and toss the case and the disc in two different places in the store. Who knows; people are weird.

Rain & Gloom Randomness

Well, the weather today is somewhat miserable, especially after the nice (albeit HOT) weather we've had over the past several days. We're in for at least 3 days of rain by the looks of it, and I have to keep reminding myself that it IS in fact still winter, if only for another week or so.

------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday was a bit of an oddity. It was the 2nd Friday the 13th within as many months. I don't remember a time in my life when we had two consecutive months that had a Friday the 13th in them (short of when the movies where out in theaters. *g*) It was kind of odd. But I like Fridays of the 13th variety, so it's all good.

------------------------------------------------------

I'm looking for a new job, preferably one closer to home that pays better.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Ahem. Sorry about that. "Waiter, reality check, please!"

Seriously though, the time is coming when my immediate supervisor is going to leave to have her baby, and although I've applied to take over the position (something which should be simple, considering I'd been doing it for about 2 years before we moved), I'm not sure how long I'd want to keep the job. I mean, the schedule is nice, especially for a retail position, but there's a good chance I'll be earning less than when I STARTED doing the job; when I was new and untrained, with no experience in running a commercial print center. I learned as I went though, and because I had all the basic software and computer knowledge, the only thing I really had to pick up was all the administrative tasks that were involved. But to be doing the same job (with more responsibility this time, and having had 2 years in the position, with a raise included during that time) for quite possibly LESS than what I started at...well, that's just not going to cut it.

So I'm keeping my eyes out for something new, preferably NOT in retail. I'm hoping to be called upon to do some computer training for some of these baby boomers who have recently been displace from lifelong positions with companies such as GM, who have closed some of their factories and stranded hundreds, if not thousands of individuals without jobs, and without a clear concept of what it takes to function in the 21st century job market.

For example, I was talking with a friend of mine on Facebook the other night (who is also currently unemployed, although not due to the previously mentioned factory closings.) She had to visit the unemployment office the other day, and while she was there she had a man beside her who HAD lost his job due to a GM plant closing; a job which he'd obviously had for most of his life. He was an older gentleman, probably someone who'd worked on the assembly line, or something similar, during his time with GM. That was all he knew, and he had never had to worry too much about learning anything new for many years. Now, with the close of the factory, and the loss of his lifelong job, he was being thrust forcefully into the computer age. Someone was actually having to teach him how to use a computer mouse!

That is both depressing and encouraging, because it is that very group of people that I hope to reach out to, and offer the computer training that they're going to be in desperate need of. Of course, with the loss of their jobs, they might not be able to PAY me much, but I'm sure we can work something out. :-)

So that's the current state of affairs. Unemployment is on the rise, but it could possibly benefit those of us who are still employed, but underpaid. Perhaps we can be of service to the older generation of displaced baby boomers. And perhaps they in turn, in addition to providing us with much needed extra income, can teach us to be more appreciative of what have, and how to get by with what we can get. Or something like that. That sentence made a lot more sense in my head, as do many things.

Anyway, that's all I've got to say about that. Hopefully our economy will take a swing northward, and things will start to improve. In the meantime, if anyone wants to know how to use a computer (or even a mouse), you know where to find me! Peace.

Faulty Updates?

I'm not sure if it's because The Crawford Observer site is hosted on WordPress, and not on Blogger, but for some reason it doesn't seem to update timely when I publish a new post. It's still showing the snowfall story from over a week ago.

I added a brief article and some pictures about Clare and her continuing cob saga to the site today, so feel free to stop by and check it out. And as I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm in need of people to contribute to The Crawford Observer, so please sign up for a WordPress account, send me your email letting me know you want to be a blog Author, and I'll hook you up!

Two, and (Hopefully) Counting

I signed Clare up as an Author for The Crawford Observer today, so now there are two of us, myself included. I need more than that though, if the blog is to be any kind of success. My goal for the site is to have it be a virtual "community meeting place" for the city of Crawford and the surrounding areas, containing news articles classified ads, local events of interest, and pictures from around town.

To that end, I need more contributors. If you live in the area, and especially if you have an interest in writing and/or photography, please email me and let me know that you'd like to be a blog Author. So far I'm the only one who has posted anything to the site, but hopefully that will change now that Clare has joined the site, and maybe she'll bring more people on board.

Please keep one thing in mind though. This site is designed to be a online newspaper of sorts for the area, so if you do decide to become a contributor, please only post articles similar to ones you might find in a local newspaper (local news stories, local event listings, local classified ads, etc.) As site administrator I will have editorial rights to all the posts, but I promise I won't touch any of them unless they infringe upon good taste (in which case they will be removed) or are in need of minor copy editing. Otherwise, as a contributor, you'll have free reign. Just remember that the overall idea is to get the community involved in the site, and to share information with other people who are local to the area.

So come on people, sign up for an account, send me your email address when you do, and I'll add you on as Authors. Thanks! :)

Early Nights & Flat Tire Delights

So today was a fairly typical Monday at work; nothing much going on, and lots of standing around waiting for customers. With spring break upon us, Athens is somewhat of a ghost town. It's been so long since I worked or lived in a college town that I'd forgotten how much things like spring break affect the overall feel of the town.

Anyway, I usually get off work somewhat earlier on Mondays, due to the aforementioned slowness, and tonight was no exception. I clocked out around 8:45 PM and prepared to head home for a relaxing evening. Alas, that was not to be.

I hopped in my car, called Monica to let her know I was on my way, and started to make my way out of the parking lot. Then I hear it - a strange noise coming from the back left of my car. I was still on the phone with Monica, and hadn't pulled out of the shopping center yet (I was waiting for a break in traffic.) I rolled forward a little more, and heard it again, a sort of flapping noise coming from my back left tire. I informed Monica that my car was making an odd sound, and pulled back into the park lot to park my car in an adjacent space. I hopped out and took once glance at my rear left tire, unfortunately confirming my fears. My back tire was so flat it almost looked as if it'd been slashed. I know it wasn't flat when I got to work, so either a slow but steady leak had finally taken it's toll, or something truly had been done to my tire. I have no idea what caused the leak yet, but I intend to find out.

At any rate, my plans for tomorrow have now changed, since I now have to go get at least one new tire (although I really need 2 new ones.) I had planned on getting up early to enjoy the spring like weather, and maybe do a little fishing or photography at Watson Mill or something, but now it's going to be time spent getting new tires for my car. Oh well, I really need new tires (and new wiper blades as well), so I guess it's a good thing, and it WAS one of the bad tires that blew, so that's good too, but I was planning on spending some nice time in the great outdoors tomorrow, and that's just not going to happen now.

Oh well. The good news is that I made it home safely on the spare tire, and that I was in the parking lot still when I noticed the tire was flat. I would have hated to drive home like that. So all in all, things could have been much worse.

So that was my exciting evening. Tomorrow I will get new tires (and maybe wipers), and then I will head off to work for another evening of "Who are these strange people in our store? Oh yeah; they're customers..." Take care all.

80s Movies - The List So Far

I made this list of 80s movies by going through the top 10 movies for 1980-1989, and picking out the ones that could be fun to watch at a party. I added a few suggestions I'd been given, and some movies that I'd like to watch again, and this is the current list. Please keep the suggestions coming, and if there's a movie on this list that you'd REALLY like to see again (or even for the first time), let me know, and I'll start a list of likely candidates. At any rate, check out what I've got so far.


Footloose
Say Anything
Pretty In Pink
The Breakfast Club
Sixteen Candles
Teen Wolf
Summer School
One Crazy Summer
Better Off Dead
The Empire Strikes Back
Airplane!
Smokey and the Bandit II
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Stripes
The Cannonball Run
Time Bandits
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
48 Hours
Poltergeist
Return of the Jedi
Flashdance
Trading Places
WarGames
Mr. Mom
Beverly Hills Cop
Ghostbusters
Gremlins
The Karate Kid
Police Academy
Romancing the Stone
Splash
Back to the Future
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Cocoon
The Jewel of the Nile
The Goonies
Spies Like Us
Top Gun
Crocodile Dundee
Platoon
Back To School
Aliens
The Golden Child
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Three Men and a Baby
Fatal Attraction
Good Morning, Vietnam
Moonstruck
The Untouchables
The Secret of My Success
Lethal Weapon
The Witches of Eastwick
Rain Man
Who Frames Roger Rabbit
Coming To America
Big
Twins
Die Hard
The Naked Gun
Cocktail
Beetlejuice
Batman
Look Who’s Talking
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
The Little Mermaid
Drive Miss Daisy
Parenthood
Dead Poets Society

A Brief Afternoon With The Bean

Mike and a friend of his had planned to come fix the Saturn today, so they drove out here to the house, and Kate and Jacob came along too, to hang out with Moe and I. Unfortunately they had been given the wrong part for the car, so they weren't able to work on it today, but we did get to spend a little while hanging out, and enjoying the wonderful weather. Here are a few pictures of Jacob while he was playing in the yard (and the truck.)

Parachute Pants, Like, Totally Not Included

Okay, I should like totally become an 80s music party DJ! Monica and I have been cleaning the house tonight (well, mostly Monica, because she's not lazy like I am.) At any rate, I quickly through together a play list of "high energy music" for us to listen to while we cleaned. As it so often happens, the majority of the songs were from the 1980s, and I had them flowing into each other one after another after another after...

As I was rocking out to the awesome jams, I was thinking to myself "Dude, you should totally DJ 80s parties for people!" And then it hit me...I want to have an 80s party myself, sometime in the near future! So here's what I need from my readers (and friends of theirs, since I still think that I really only have 3 steady readers who pay any kind of attention to my blog.)

I would like those of you that are interesting in possibly attending (and maybe even helping plan) an 80s party to leave a comment on this post. I would also like suggestions for an 80s movie you'd like to watch. I have quite a few 80s movies already, but they wouldn't appeal to a very wide audience, so I'm going to need people to either suggest movies they'd like to watch, and they can either bring them to the party themselves, if they have them, or I can rent them from RedBox, Netflix, etc. We'll have at least 2 TVs set up, so we can have more than 1 movie going at a time (maybe an 80s scifi or horror movie in one living room, and a comedy or love story in the other living room, or something like that.)

I also need some suggestions for 80s themed snack items (candy, finger foods, drinks, etc.), as I want to have a good selection of these for people to enjoy while they're watching the movies. I've already got plenty of 80s music, as I said, so that's taken care of. Any other suggestions like 80s board games that would be fun for groups of people to play are also welcome. You're also welcome to dress in 80s style clothing if you want to make the experience more authentic.

I really hope that I get some people interested in this (preferably people that I know, because I don't want this to turn into one of those wild and crazy beer-fest parties with lots of drunk strangers running around and breaking things, like you see on TV all the time.) If I can't get a regular movie night going, at least I can try to have one or two crazy theme-based nights where I can get a group of like-minded people together to socialize and have some fun.

So, like, I totally need to hear from you all. Are you with me? Doesn't this sound like a totally rad idea? Gnarly, dude. Can't wait to hear from ya!

Clareification

Yes, the spelling of the title is intentional, because this post is mainly in response to a voicemail message I got from my sister.

I know you're excited about "reading my book", but I haven't even started WRITING it yet (or more specifically, typing it. I don't do the writing thing any more than I have too. I'm so used to typing that I get writer's cramp within minutes if I write more than a few paragraphs.)

At any rate, unless I write a very SHORT book (which could definitely happen), it's going to be a long time before there's really anything to read. Also, I'm not sure this book is going to be quite up your alley. I said it's a book based loosely on my life, and I meant loosely. While a lot of the book will be true and somewhat autobiographical in nature, the vast majority of it won't. I just figured it would be easier to start writing about a subject I knew a little bit about. They (whoever THEY are) say that writing about yourself is one of the easiest ways for a new writer to get started, and get past any potential writer's block that might develop early on. So that's what I'm doing. I'm writing a story about my past, my present, and my future, with wild, imaginative elaborations and extreme speculations. It's going to be a blast, because I'm so much "cooler" in my mind! *g*

Anyway, I'll let you know when I have anything worth reading, but I'm not sure you're going to like it. It's not going to be the type of book you would normally read willingly. lol We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the enthusiasm and vote of confidence though. I'll be sure to thank you in the forward/author's note. *smile*

Night Of The Wolf

Okay, so in my never ending quest to find interesting distractions against the onset of boredom, I have decided to try my hand at writing something "real" again, namely a short novel. I've had various movie and book ideas floating around in my head for the past several years, but I haven't taken the opportunity to try and flesh any of them out because most of the things that seem rather cool in my head, turn out to be rather lame in reality. For instance, I have a pseudo-zombie movie that I've been piecing together in my mind for years, and if I could write it and film it like I envision it in my imagination, it could be pretty cool (as zombie movies go anyway.) But I have the feeling that should I actually try to MAKE that movie, it would suck. (Hey, I don't pull punches here.)

One of the books I have been thinking about lately, though, might actually have the chance of going somewhere, IF I can keep my mental focus on it long enough and don't get bored after I've written a few chapters, which usually tends to happen when I try to write anything longer than a poem or short story (or even a blog post at times.) The one saving grace this time around is that THIS book is based loosely on my life. (I know, I can hear the groans and pathetic sighs already. "Why would we want to read about YOUR life? I mean you're talking about writing this book to help fend of boredom, so how interesting can your life really BE, and why would I want to waste my time reading about it?")

Hence the "loosely based on my life" bit. Yes, my life as most of you know it IS rather boring, but few of you know the back history of my life; the sordid little details that make me what I am. And to those details I'm going to add a mythology that I've been spinning over the past couple weeks, in the hope that I can write a book that not only will be of interest to any potential readers, but will be interesting enough to ME that I will actually keep writing it.

So that's the plan. I'm going to start out with a traditional book format, but it might evolve (or maybe devolve would be more accurate) into Web based episodes such as The Guild or The Legend of Neil (only much darker.) It might also turn into a weekly or monthly podcast, if I'm not in the mood to type. The idea though is to write an initial book in such a way that it can spawn a series. Then I can become the next J.K. Rowling (only male, and having lost my British accent) and make tons of money doing something I enjoy.

Then will come the toy line, the full-feature length movies, soundtracks from and inspired by the books I've written...and the only thing I'll have to do is tour the world promoting it all, and then reap the benefits of all my hard work. That's the idea anyway. I have to write the bloody thing first! *sigh*

So that's the plan. A book, loosely based on my life and the circumstances of my birth and how I came to be in my present situation, embellished with "facts" that COULD have happened (probably in an alternate universe), and all set in the present and not too distant future (2012 is going to play a big role here.)

I MAY post snippets of the book on my blog from time to time, so keep an eye out for them. I also need to write a few letters of request to several bands, because I want to quote a couple lines from some of their songs at the start of some of the chapters. Rush and Metalica spring to mind, and I already have a song from each of them that I'd like to use a couple lines from, so I'll have to see about getting permission to do so. I don't think Rush will be a problem, because they are cool guys. Metalica on the other hand, who knows. They seem cool, but they're also REALLY uptight about their music, so who knows how that will go.

At any rate, I'll keep you all posted as to any progress I make with getting permission from the bands, to actually writing the book that will change the world (my world anyway!) Stay tuned for more details as they become available. Peace.

Submissions & Contributors Wanted

Okay, I'm putting the word out. My new blog The Crawford Observer is in need of Contributors to submit pictures, articles, news stories, etc. I have emailed a few random people I don't know, who supposedly live in the area, and I've asked them to become Contributors, but I'd like some people I actually KNOW to become some too, and write posts on my new blog and help make it become the success I hope it can be!

So come one, come all (but only if you're local to the area) and register to be active Contributors to The Crawford Observer. If you're interested (and haven't already received an invitation from me), email me and let me know. Then I'll add you to the blog as a Contributor and you'll be free to submit posts to it.

Come on everyone, you know you want to! If you don't want to read this blog, you can help me create another (better) one! I'm looking for writers, photographers, and people who are "in the know" about what's going on in the local area. So join me today, and let's make something special, together! (I just had to end this post with a cheesy "line" to reel you all in. *g*)

A Poll For My "Readers"

Okay, I'm beginning to think no one but me reads these things, because I haven't had a single comment in ages. Now maybe my writing isn't worth commenting on, but it would be nice to see a little recognition once in a while, just to let me know that people actually look at this stuff.

So I'm going to take a little poll of sorts. If you are one of the people who read my blog (more than 1 or 2 posts), please leave me a comment after THIS post to let me know that I actually have some readers. Otherwise, I might just stop writing all together, and that wouldn't be any fun because I ENJOY writing, even if I'm not that good at it.

Anyway, please comment if you are one of my "regular blog readers." I've heard rumors that one or two of you exist, but I'm finding it harder and harder to believe. And if you can't comment, because you don't have a blogger.com account, then by all means sign up for one! I mean, if you don't have an account, what are you doing here in the first place? (And don't say "Reading Clare's blog." because I know that's what all of you come here for!)

Thanks, and I hope to have a comment or two from someone soon. Maybe it will make me feel better, because I still feel blah. *sigh*

Ice, Ice, Baby.

That's what I had to contend with driving over on my way to work this morning. (The ice, not the babies. What kind of sick person drives over babies?!? Seriously, you need help, man!) [Author's Note - Sorry about that. Our sick sense of humor sometimes gets the better of us. We promise, no more gratuitously violent interruptions.] (Isn't referring to yourself in the plural or the 3rd person a sign of mental instability? I blame it on the Theraflucinations.)

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Naturally, all the remaining snow left over from Sunday and Monday refroze last night, and parts of the road were still quite dangerous when I went to work at 7:20 AM this morning. I did a bit of sliding and tire spinning, but it was nothing major, fortunately. The scary part came when I actually pulled into the Kroger parking lot at work. We have (or at least we're SUPPOSED) to park behind our store, back by the loading docks for Kroger and OfficeMax. Normally this isn't a problem, but today the parking lot was a skating rink, coated with a combination of thin, super slick sheets of ice, and ridges and plains of chunky frozen snow.

I was talking to Monica as I pulled around the back of the store, and the first thing I had to do was drive up onto a bunch of frozen snow to avoid the police car that was coming the other way, in the somewhat cleared part of the pavement. No big deal. I slowly crawled my way up onto the ice, and waved to the cop as he drove past me in the opposite direction. Then came the REALLY scary part.

At the end of the building is the Kroger loading dock, and there were a couple of trucks parked there, unloading the day's shipments. The problem was the box truck that was pulling behind them, heading directly towards me on a perpendicular path. They applied their breaks, but they were on a slight hill, and on ice, and even though their tires stopped turning, their truck continued to slide across the ice towards my car. Now I was on a patch of ice myself, so I couldn't just give the car some gas and easily get out of the way. I just had to keep pushing forward, unbearably slowly, as the truck loomed ever closer. More or less, the last thing Monica heard (because I was still on the phone with her) was "Oh crap, truck!" Needless to say, she panicked a little, not seeing what I was seeing, but imagining all the horrible possibilities!

Fortunately my tires were able to gain purchase on the pavement, and I narrowly avoided being t-boned by the bothersome box truck. Then I had to cross another large expanse of ice, turn slowly to face the other way, and try and ease my car into an area of low ice coverage. I pulled into a spot, decided I was up a little too far, and tried to pull forward into the adjacent space. I say "tried" because as soon as my car moved forward slightly, my tires encountered a mound of packed snow and ice and started spinning, leaving me floundering in place. "Okay, reverse it is!" I said out loud. (At least I think I did. I'm not really sure if the voices I'm hearing lately are mine, in my head, or from other people. Theraflu again, I'm sure.)

Anyway, I backed up slowly, got off the ice, shut off the engine, and carefully walked across more ice to get to the sidewalk that leads up to the front entrance of my store. From there on, things were fairly humdrum. It was a long day though, because it was relatively slow at work, overall, and I'm still not feeling 100% so I wasn't on my A-game. But I made it through the day without any major incidents.

Yesterday was the first day I've had to call out sick from work since I started working for OfficeMax over 2 years ago. I don't want to make it a habit.

Well, I'm starting to zone out here (more so than usual), so I'm going to wrap this up. Again, I'm sorry if this doesn't make any sense. I probably shouldn't blog medicated. *Goofy grin* Have a good night all. Peace.

Theraflucinations

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm not responsible for anything that I might type right now. I downed some "warming" Theraflu medicine, and I'm chasing it with a steaming cup of green tea. Meds and high doses of antioxidants HAVE to be good, RIGHT???

I haven't felt like this in about 7 years. Sick, I mean. The last time I was really sick was right before Monica and I were about to get married. We didn't know whether I was going to a wedding, or to the hospital. I'd spent a week, sleeping propped up on a pile of clothes on the floor in my old bedroom, coughing up copious amounts of sickly, green phlegm (this time I won't spare you all the details), not eating anything for the whole week, and basically wishing I were dead. I had a severe case of bronchitis/restricted airway disease, bordering on pneumonia, and I was in bad shape. The plus side of it all is that I dropped about 10 pounds or so. The down side of THAT is that they came back...and they brought FRIENDS! :(

Anyway, I sit here at home, having officially called out of work sick. And the doctor can't see me until next week sometime (because there isn't one there today due to the weather, and I'm a new patient so they have to deal with the more important people first), so I drove the 10 miles to Wal-Mart and picked up the aforementioned Theraflu. This is all making sense, right? Okay, let's continue.

At the moment I look sort of like Beavis in his "I am Cornholio!" days, except that I have a hoodie pulled up over my head, and not my t-shirt. It's way to cold for that. (Well, at least half the time. The chills keep me coming and going and I'm not really sure if I'm hot, cold, on fire, etc.) My body aches a bit (around my kidneys and lower back somewhat, and my eye sockets feel like they're in c-clamps); and I feel kind of warm and fuzzy inside (must be the warming Theraflu doing its thing.)

With luck, and lots of food and self-medication, I'll be able to keep my planned work schedule in the morning, and open the ImPress department. I might not be fully coherent (or conscious), but I hope to be there. This is the first day I've missed in over 2 years, and I want to try and make it the last (at least until the next time I require a day off, which given the fact the last time I was really sick was about 9 years ago, should be be a while.)

This green tea would taste better with a little sugar or honey in it, but it's better for me this way, and I don't mind it that much. It tastes better than the Theraflu.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, I think, Monica is at work at Home Depot, and will be getting off around 5 PM to hopefully make it home before dark, when any moisture/snow/ice/etc. that's still hanging around it probably going to refreeze. It could be another fun early morning commute tomorrow if that happens. *sigh* The roads are mostly clear at the moment, and there was only one tree down on some power lines on my way to Wal-Mart, but there was a crew out there working on it. Hopefully, when they take care of that, they'll head up the road a little bit and fix the light that's out at the intersection of 78 and Robert Hardeman Road.

Do I seem wordy to you? I seem to wax prolific when I'm medicated...

I don't have any more pictures to share at the moment, but the ones I've posted over the last couple days should hopefully hold you over until the next time I post. Clare and family will be back from England on Wednesday, and I'm sure they'll have lots of pictures to share (that is unless Clare leaves their new camera in the car again. lol)

Thanks once again for taking the time to peruse my crazy ramblings. I'm off to see about a one eared bunny now. Take care.

The Morning After

Well, we made it through the night, and the electricity is still on (for the time being anyway. It keeps flickering because, as you can see in the pictures, ice is weighing the lines down.) In that one picture, that bottom cable is only a few feet off the ground. Obviously it's not supposed to be that low, and we're lucky it didn't snap. I'm not sure if it's a phone line or a power line, but I hope it just thaws out and gradually eases back up to its proper location.

In other news, Monica made it home safely last night, after HOURS on the road. She had a few scary moments when she started to slide, and thought she was going to hit other cars, but thank God she made it home okay. After a late morning rise, she carefully made her way over to work, where the whole parking lot was one large, white expanse. Fortunately they have the tools to deal with that there, and they were already shoveling the snow off by the time she got there. She said it looked pretty amazing though...hopefully she took pictures. :)

As for myself, I WON'T be going into work today, because I still feel horrible. Last night the congestion finally set in, and I've been alternating between not really being able to breathe through my nose at all, to being able to breathe through one nostril while the other one just ran continuously (I'll spare you the details this time.) Needless to say, going to work and coughing and dripping all over the customers is not on today's "to do" list. I'm going to hop in the shower shortly, and then make my way down to the local Lexington-Crawford Medical Center to see if they're open, and if I can see a doctor. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully I'll improve by tomorrow though, because I'm supposed to open in the morning. I'm not sure how that's going to turn out yet. Oh well, I haven't called out sick from work at OfficeMax in nearly 2 1/2 years, so I think a day or two off isn't too much to ask; especially since I've been working extra hours to cover the department when other people have been out.

So that's about it for now. With luck our power will continue to stay on, and keep our house warm and bright. I'm off to go shower now. Enjoy the pictures I took early this morning. Peace.

Hmmm...This Could Cause Problems

Well, as it turns out, they were RIGHT about the weather this time. So far we've had probably around 3-5 inches of snow and sleet, although the only places you can really tell how much we've had are elevated surfaces where the snow has had a chance to collect undisturbed. I know my car has as least 4 inches of snow on it, as do the porch rails, the railroad ties that border the front yard, and most of the mailboxes around here. It looks really beautiful. It's also rather deadly.

So far I've seen 3 or 4 limbs break off and come down. Most of them were pretty small, but I saw one limb, that was at least 10 feet long, fall from a neighbor's oak tree and crash through their fence, blocking off most of our road. Fortunately it was fairly small, all things considered, and another neighbor and I were able to move the top part of it (which had separated from the rest of the limb) out of the road and into the ditch at the front of the yard it fell in. Mistletoe was EVERYWHERE!

It made me think though. We have a lot of older oak and pecan trees in our yard, and that limb that came down didn't look particularly rotten or anything. Our cars sit in our driveway, under some wonderful oak and pecan trees; trees that are now making me rather nervous as the snow continues to fall and starts to freeze as night approaches and the temperatures are starting to drop. So I scraped several thick sections of snow off parts of my front and rear windshields, hopped into my car, and backed it up a bit on the driveway, out from under the largest of the limbs. Hopefully it will be okay. *fingers crossed*

Anyway, I probably shouldn't have been outside as long as I was, given the fact that I apparently have bronchitis and who knows what else, but snow covered landscapes just look so wonderful! With luck, the snow will stick around for a while tomorrow, and I can get some pictures of the house and trees all covered in snow.

This is such crazy and [somewhat] unexpected weather we're having! I'm off to check weather.com again to see just how bad it's like to get. Keep warm everyone!

Snow, Ice & Everything Nice

Winter Storm 2009 Continues!

I don't have TV hooked up, but I'm sure they're broadcasting headlines like that all over the news channels. As everyone starts to panic, and they all rush out to the grocery store to buy lots of food items that would be terrible in a real emergency (because most of them will require cooking before they can be eaten), I sit here at my computer and sip down my third or fourth cup of hot chocolate for the day. Monica just called me from somewhere on I-85. Traffic is moving in both lanes at about 10mph, which means that there is probably a wreck somewhere ahead. But at least everyone ELSE is now driving slowly, so even though it's going to take her forever to get home, at least she'll be safer.

After an hour or so of large, fluffy-flaked snow, it's once again switched back to a combination of tiny flakes and ice pellets, mixing in with the layers of water, ice, and snow which already cover the ground. It could get nasty tonight, when the temperatures drop into the low 20s.

Our neighbor was just outside in coat and gloves, knocking the snow from the fir trees that form a boundary between our yards. I thought they looked quite nice, all covered in snow, but he probably had the right idea...knocking the snow off the boughs before it gets to heavy or freezes and then snaps all the limbs off. Still, he's ruined my nice wintry landscape scene.

I've been taking pictures throughout the day, ever since the snow and sleet started, but because none of the "snowy landscape" shots I've taken really look that exciting, I've decided to show you some of the stylized pictures I've taken of some local snow-capped flora. (I tried for some fauna, but Shadow wouldn't hold still!) Enjoy.

Rain, Sleet, Snow...Pneumonia?

Well, it looks like there might actually be something to the winter weather advisories they've been issuing. I talked to Monica a little while ago and she said it was snowing in Woodstock. And here in Crawford we're getting rain with sleet mixed in off and on. At the moment we're expecting at least 1 inch of a "slushy mix" of rain, sleet, and snow in the warning area tonight. But by the looks of it, there's a nice little snow storm moving in from Alabama, so things could get interesting. Monica is leaving Woodstock shortly to try and get back here before conditions make it unsafe to drive.

On a more disturbing note (for myself anyway), I sort of feel like I have bronchitis or possibly even pneumonia. I've had it enough to know what it feels like, and while the symptoms usually don't come on as quickly as these seem to have, they feel familiar. Right now my lungs/chest walls feel tight and constricted, and although I'm not presently have too much trouble breathing, my chest and throat do hurt if I cough. I also have been experiencing mild chills and possibly a slight fever off and on, as well as lethargy, headaches, and a bit of muscle weakness/soreness. I may actually have to seek out a local doctor tomorrow, if symptoms persist along this course, and it may be the first time since I started working for OfficeMax almost 2 1/2 years ago that I have to call out sick.

Then again, maybe all the "snow and ice" will take care of that problem for me, because there's NO way I'm driving 20 miles to work, through deer country, on potentially icy roads that are mostly hills! And I won't let Monica drive to work in that either. Of course, there's a decent chance she could get the day off tomorrow due to inclement weather, but it will probably have all melted away by the time it's my turn to head to work. *sigh* I guess we'll just have to play it by ear and see how things go. The only thing I know for sure is that if I continue to feel and sound like I do now, I'm not going to work tomorrow...

Thunder And...Snow? What The...?!?

Hearing a loud rumble of thunder a few minutes ago, I quickly logged onto weather.com to check on the local conditions, since we still don't have TV and it's not as easy to get a weather report at the drop of a hat. As I typed in our zip code, and our local page loaded, what did I see? 80% chance of 1-2 inches of snow Sunday evening/night? What on Earth? Wasn't it just in the 60s a couple days ago?!? That's Georgia weather for you though. And it IS officially March now, and if we're going to get snow we typically get it in March or April, especially the "bad" snow/ice storms. So this should be interesting to see what actually happens.

After I read the report, I remembered one of my customers at work mentioning something about the possibility of snow on Sunday, but they didn't give it much credit, and neither did I at the time. But apparently it's supposed to get really cold by Sunday night, and the rain that's moved into the area is going to mix it up with a massive cold air mass, and potentially make things interesting for north and central Georgia. Or so they say. They're predicting 1-2 inches of "wet snow", possibly more in some isolated areas, but that it shouldn't be too bad. And a lot of it will probably melt off due to the recent warm temperatures we've been having. However, if the cold front is strong enough, they said that there COULD be significant chances for several inches of snow to accumulate on the roads, making driving conditions less than favorable. Again, we'll have to watch this one closely, and see what happens, but I've called Monica and told her that she could be driving home in snow tomorrow, if she leaves too late. That would be just what we need...her getting stranded somewhere between there and nowhere (where we live.)

I'll be keeping an eye on this one. White rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits. Happy March everyone, and bring on the snow. (But can you wait until Monday so we can have a day off!)

Milkless Tea & Gothic Metal Mayhem

Rawwrrrr! Okay, so you have to hear it to believe it, but right now, for some reason, I have a rather scratchy/sore throat that I woke up with this morning. I blame it on the less than ideal weather of the past day or two, and the time I spent at St. Mary's on Thursday. Whatever the cause my throat is swollen, kind of raw, and I can "growl" along quite well with the Gothic Metal/Progressive Rock song I'm listening to right now. Rawwrrr!

As for the milkless tea, that is for 2 reasons. The first being that I loaded this tea (English Breakfast) up with several heaping spoonfuls of honey to help my throat, and the second...our refrigerator isn't cooling stuff down to the ideal temperature, so food is spoiling a bit faster than it should, and the milk we have left, which should have been good for another 3 days or so, smells a little "off." And there's no way I'm messing up a perfectly good cup of tea and drinking that stuff! So, milkless tea with honey it is. At least it's helping my throat some. Unfortunately I may have to give up any hope of a successful metal music career...

So anyway, Monica is in Woodstock hanging out with her old coworkers for a couple days after a check-up visit to the doctor yesterday (well, 2 days ago now, since it's after 1 AM.) She's enjoying "catching up with the girls", and I know they're glad to have her visiting because they all really miss her. I'm glad she has good friends like them. They've all helped her through some hard times over the past few months.

As for myself, I'm back to temporarily doing the pseudo "bachelor" thing again; hanging out by myself and feeding myself, which currently has meant lots of Chef Boyardee (thanks Dad & Sandra!) All that stuff basically tastes the same, but at least it's a break from the several pounds (literally) of Malto-Meal "Golden Grahams" that I've eaten over the past few weeks. And given that I don't want to ruin ANOTHER cereal with rancid milk, I think the change is good, if a little mono-flavored.

In other news, Clare, Josh & Esme are in England/Wales, attending the wedding of our friends Mathew and Ema who have finally tied the knot (I think.) I REALLY wish we could be over there with them, but it just wasn't meant to be this time. We'll get back to Limey Land one of these days though. I've been away too long, and given the reason for my previous visit, it's high time we visited under more enjoyable circumstances. Maybe we'll win some lottery money one of these days, and we'll be able to go visit the Isles for a month or so. That's what I really want to do. And who knows, maybe if I spend enough time there I'll get my wonderful accent back (I wonder how it would sound with my currently gravelish vocal tones?)

Anyway, the back of my skull is starting to throb, so I think I'm going to wrap this one up. Thanks for stopping by, and please, if you're local to the area (and you KNOW who you are!), swing by my new blog on WordPress, The Crawford Observer. I need to get some people signed up as contributors and get that thing off the ground if it's ever going to go anywhere!

Take care, and keep warm. Peace.