Month: February 2006

Happy Fat Tuesday

Today has been a good day. First, I’ll start with yesterday. I got my digital cable *and* the electrician showed up to fix my arcing circuit breaker. So last night, I was able to sit in my reading room and finish reading Tartuffe.

When I arrived home from work today, there was a box in front of the door. Yay! My CDs are in. These are several Big Finish CDs that I recently ordered from WhoNA. Included in my order was the most recent Sylvester McCoy audio Night Thoughts. Yay!

Then, while I was playing City of Heroes, I received a phone call from the local bookstore that Atom Bomb Blues by Andrew Cartmel was in. This is the latest Seventh Doctor novel. Yay!

So, hoping for a hat trick of good fortune, I called the Frische’s Big Boy to see what the soup of the week was. Cream of broccoli! Yay! It was off to Troy for the night for Trina!

They say it’s the little things in life that make it worthwhile. Well, these little things have certainly made for a happy treen! And now I finish my night on the laptop with Leo nearby. Life is good. 🙂

Digital Cable

I think I may finally have made my final step into the 21st century. After getting a cell phone and a laptop, I have now subscribed to digital cable. In a way, I find it rather hilarious to have signed up for something that I probably won’t watch a lot of. However, it’s only about $5 more than the exorbitant fee I’m already paying for regular cable, so I think it’ll be worth it. Of course, the first channel that I switched to was BBC America. Yay! And what’s playing? At Home with the Braithwaites – Peter Davison, yay!

(Well, I lie, I found the game show network first, but they had commercials playing, so then I searched further down and found BBCA.)

Dunno if this will get me watching “live” TV again or not. Perhaps with my laptop & BBCA, I’ll just have the bestest time in the living room. 🙂

The Battle of the Addictions

Well, there’s not too many days left of the 2006 Winter Olympics. So sad! But one good thing about the end of the Olympics will be returning to my other addiction, City of Heroes/Villains. 🙂

Even though the Olympics have been winning out over everything (except work and picking mom up from the airport), I have been able to be on my laptop during much of it since Friday. This has allowed me to do other things. Like work on my City of Heroes related sites.

My two main characters, Icy Hot Man (level 50 hero) and Jack Dodger (level 40 villain) are both badge collectors. So one site that I frequent is City Information Terminal. With this site, I keep track of how many badges these two characters have collected. Icy currently has 168 out of 234 badges, while Jack has 77 out of 220. If you click on those links, you can even see all of the badges they’ve gotten. (Unfortunately they put the badges I don’t have first, rather than the ones I do have. I’d kind of prefer to have the bragging rights first, then look at what I’ve got to do next second. Heh.)

Another CoX related site that I’ve been working with is City Game Tracker. This could actually be rather useful (and judiang needs to install the program too) because it shows when I’m actually on and playing.

So, if you want to know if I’m with my other addiction or not, you can check that image out. (Actually, I think I’ll put one of the smaller images in the sidebar of my journal, just for grins.) When I am playing, it’ll say which hero/villain I’m currently playing, too. 🙂 Eventually, all of my heroes/villains will be registered with this program. And I’ll create little icons for each of ’em. Heh. To see who’s registered already, click here.

I’ll probably play around more with my screenshots from the game while watching the Olympic Games. My goal is to eventually create a page devoted to my little heroes & villains. 🙂

Jealousy

I’m sitting in my living room watching the Olympics with my laptop on my lap. And guess who decides it’s time for lap sitting? Yup! Leo!

Leo is jealous of the laptop. He’s never been big on lapsitting, unless we’re in the reading room. But now that I’ve got the laptop, he’s come several times wanting to sit on my lap. He’s currently laying on my right arm. I have enough movement to type with both hands this time. The other night, he was laying in the crook of my left arm and I could only type with one hand.

Ah, now it’s licking the fingers time. Yes, Leo, this is distracting. 🙂

Too much of a good thing?

So, I’m coming upon the morning hours while sleeping today when I have an interesting dream. Leo, meanwhile, was rattling the phone, which is his way of telling me it’s time for breakfast. I managed to work this into the dream.

Apparently, there was an international sporting event where people would try to rattle phones. There were four top rattlers being announced while I grabbed the phone in real life and hid it under the covers. When Leo started playing with the phone charger, the dream modified to fit that too.

I’m willing to send Leo off to represent the US in phone rattling if it’ll get him out of my bedroom in the wee hours of the morning. 😉

Definitely OD’ing on the Olympics when my cat rattling the phone becomes an international sporting event.

Simply Shocking!

The joys of home ownership. For some time I’ve had problems in my reading room and bedroom with the electricity. Tonight dad was over to look at the circuit breaker and he noticed that it was arcing – woah! Sparks aren’t good in houses! We imediately turned off that particular circuit.

So I’ve just called what I think is an electrician. They clump everyone associated with electricity into the “electrical contractors” group, so it ain’t easy to tell who’s an electrician for repairing arcing circuit breakers and who’s a contractor for designing the wiring in your house. With the help of the WWW, I’ve at least found someone who’s a member of the BBB. Probably won’t hear back until Tuesday. So that means until I do hear back, I won’t be listening to my Soundbridge in the reading room or watching TV in my bedroom. At least the overhead lights are on a different circuit.

While dad was over, we first had some haystacks (taco meat on crushed tortilla chips with lots of lettuce, cheese, and salsa – yum!) Then he checked on my recliner which doesn’t recline (and hasn’t for years.) It turns out that the fix isn’t worth the bother. I’ll just keep an eye out for a new recliner and sofa (it’s getting rather old looking too) for the living room. And we also looked over the reading room and took some measurements for bookshelves. I hope to have floor to ceiling bookshelves in there. 🙂

Hmmm, maybe I should open out my sofabed for the rest of this 3-day weekend. Then I can still watch Olympics in bed. (Last time there were Olympics, I hadn’t yet gotten a TV for the bedroom so I actually did this – heh.) I’m sure Leo won’t mind – he loves a grand adventure. 🙂

Geek.ME!

So, here I am, watching the Olympics in my living room on my big TV (the little one is in the bedroom). And how am I typing this? Am I using my work laptop? NOPE! I’m working on my BRAND NEW LAPTOP!

I bought an Averatec 3700 series laptop. It’s itty bitty & cute. And it’s white!

Oh yeah, I’m a geek, I should state the specs, too. 1.8GHz processor (AMD Sempron), 12.1″ screen (part of the itty bitty & cute aspect), 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, DVD+/-RW/CD-RW drive, and only 4 frickin’ pounds! It’s refurbished, but so far, no complaints.

I wanted something ultra-portable and I liked the look of the Averatecs I’ve seen. Dad also got one – his is much the same as mine, but he bought his new. Smaller HD, no DVD burner, but just as cute & itty bitty.

I decided I finally wanted my own laptop, rather than using the work one. First off, the work one isn’t ultra portable, so I wasn’t doing a whole lot of transfer to home with it. And I really didn’t like having “personal” stuff on my work computer. So last weekend, I uninstalled the Semagic, mIRC, GAIM and other “personal” programs (plus documents & MP3s) from the work one. At work, it’s used for cloning computers & designing/updating the school website.

When I figured my taxes, I realized I was getting enough back from the Feds to afford a new laptop. So I did lots of research & shopping before I finally decided to get my Averatec. I ordered it last Friday (from geeks.com, of course) and it arrived today. Yay!

In addition to my laptop, I ordered a laptop pad (the Lapinator). It arrived on Wednesday and I got to try it out with dad’s laptop then. It’s great – perfect for these itty bitty laptops. And also very light. Don’t know if it’ll fit in the laptop case – I’ll find out Monday or Tuesday.

I also ordered a laptop case, as you might have guessed from above. It’s supposed to arrive Monday, but I didn’t know that UPS delivered on holidays. Hope it does!

The cost of all of these items was still less than the refund I’m getting from the feds, so yay me! I think I might get a set of white headphones to go with my laptop, too. 🙂

I’m really happy that this has arrived as soon as it has. This way I can spend all weekend watching the Olympics & customizing my new laptop. Works for me!

Olympics Junkie

You know you’re an Olympics Junkie when you schedule the rest of your life around the Olympics.

Oh, sorry for not being on CoX lately, judiang. I should have some time this weekend to finish up our Valentine’s Mission with Icy & Imanni. Looks like Sunday will have to be it again. Should be available from 11am til 4pm (though I’ll have hockey on in the background).

(Oh, and the only reason I’m not watching Curling right now is that I decided to take a break before the intensive viewing at 8pm starts on NBC.)

Reading is Fundamental

First, a warm thank-you to everyone who has had the Short family in your thoughts on the passing of Granny. We had some very nice times remembering Granny as a family. The viewing and funeral were as nice as they can be and our private interment was special. It was wonderful having both Amy & Rachel in for the occasion. We even played some Shanghai Rum on the day of the interment – Amy playing the grumpy one in honor of Granny.

Second – the topic of this post. As I mentioned in my retrospect to Granny, she was quite the avid reader. This week when the folks were at the local library, the librarian there gave them the laminated card which they’d made for Granny when she requested books. (Normally it’s just a disposable card, but for big-time regulars like Granny, they laminate them.) The librarian decided to look up on the computer just how many books Granny had taken out since 1992 when they started keeping computer records. And just for grins, she also looked up dad & mom’s book counts. Mom has a respectable 350+ books and dad over 400 books. And Granny? 1716 books! And that’s only since 1992 and only the library books that she read. She was also a member of the Book of the Month Club and her sisters often gave her old paperbacks to read as well.

It’s no surprise, then, that she had to mark books once she read them. She used pencil and made a faint asterisk on the inside cover near the crease. Mom’s taken to following her example and does a similar faint penciled “ls” in the same general area when she takes out a book. As a former librarian, that was the most that Granny could do to mark up a book.

The Oakes Beitman Memorial Library has received a number of cash donations in Granny’s name. They’re delighted and are currently deciding what to do with the money. One thought is to use the money to train one of their employees on how to repair books. When Granny was a librarian, that was her specialty. Heh. Whatever they do with the money will be something that Granny would have liked. Reading was her favorite pastime and it’s nice to know that even in her death, she’s helping the cause of reading.

Now, as for me and my goal to read for 30 minutes every day, I’ve been doing pretty well. There have only been a couple of days when I haven’t been able to do that. (The exercising has taken a hit since Granny’s death, however. I hope to rectify that today!) And so far for 2006, I’ve finished seven books. Maybe this will finally be the year that I manage to read 50 books! That’s nothing on Granny’s 132 library books a year, however! So I think I’ve got a ways to go to catch up with her. But I won’t mind the challenge! I love reading. 🙂

Rest in Peace, Grandma Kitty-Cat

Phyllis A. Lowry was born October 12, 1920. Her parents, Harold & Lova ended up having 9 children (2 boys, the rest girls) who grew to adulthood. Phyllis was there in the middle of the pack. In 1938, she graduated from Newton High School, along with her soon-to-be husband, William M. Short. You can see the class photos on the third floor of Newton Local School. Phyllis is the one who looks like me, only with curly hair and no glasses.

She had a daughter, Rebecca (called Becky) and son, William Michael (called Mike). She had five grandchildren: Mick, Bill, me, Amy, and Deanna. And five great grandchildren: Chris, Brandi, Taylor, Sydney, and Braden. And she had numerous pets throughout the years.

When Amy and I were little, we were lucky to live in the same town as all of our grandparents. And to distinguish between them, we started calling Grandma Short, Grandma Kitty-Cat. After all, she had a cat (Marshmallow) and Grandma Anderson didn’t. Yes, even as children, my sister and I were very sensible. Grandma Kitty-Cat also had a dog, a vicious little Pekingese called Happy. I think because Happy + kids = Happy Bites, we tended to fixate on the cat more than the dog when thinking of Grandma.

Grandma Kitty-Cat worked at the local library for most of my childhood. Many times she’d get to take the old children’s books home that the library was replacing. I have several of those beloved books in my collection now. To me, it was only natural to go to the library and read or borrow books. And when Grandma went to the library for her own reading, she’d take two big bags of books in and come out with two big bags of books. I know, I’ve had to carry them before.

Grandpa Short died in 1982, much to the surprise of everyone. Grandma carried on, however. And it wasn’t long before her youngest granddaughter arrived into our lives. Soon Deanna and Aunt Becky moved in with Grandma. It was Deanna and her friends who started calling Grandma Kitty-Cat (now owning more than just one cat) “Granny.” With Aunt Becky herself becoming a grandma, “Granny” worked out great for distinguishing between the generations.

Granny and her sisters (there were 7 Lowry girls total, don’t forget) were avid card players. Granny has even been known to get a little upset (heh – understatement) during a really riveting game of cards. Dad was most likely scarred from these early card playing days, but Becky inherited her mother’s love of card games. And so did all of her granddaughters. Just ask judiang sometime about playing cards with the Shorts. 🙂

When dad retired from teaching, Granny discovered she had breast cancer. Dad now had more free time on his hands, so he was able to take her to chemo and various doctor’s appointments. Granny decided she could have two reactions to the cancer – laugh or cry. She decided to laugh. And she beat the cancer.

Granny was feisty that way. She did things her way. She wasn’t afraid to argue with you. But she loved absolutely. Despite her conservative upbringing, she accepted Amy as a lesbian and loved Rachel as another granddaughter. They were just her “girls.” She accepted judiang as a friend, even though her own father would probably have turned over in his grave to know she’d befriended a black woman. Granny was evidence that old dogs could learn new tricks.

Granny was a staunch Republican, but she loved her liberal minded family just the same. Oh, she’d still argue and complain, but she knew we didn’t always agree with her politically. And she would joke along with us about her conservatism. During the 2000 elections, she said to me “I don’t care who you vote for, as long as you don’t vote for Gore.” So, of course, my advice to her in 2004 was “I don’t care who you vote for, as long as you don’t vote for Bush.”

Granny wasn’t big on expressing herself. Whenever I’d say “I love you, Grandma” she’d reply “I know.” Amy and I realized that this was just how she said “I love you, too” back.

Just before Christmas of this year, Granny wound up in the hospital for one condition, only for them to realize her blood chemistry was all screwed up and she was close to death. She got over that issue, but was too weak to return home. So we got her into Covington Care Center, a local nursing home. The folks there were very good to her and she complimented them often. Her goal was to get strong enough to return home to see her cats and “the damn dog.” But other health issues kept coming between her and her goal.

Her last stint in the hospital was when they finally started to figure out what was wrong with her. It turns out the cancer from her breast had made its way to her bones. It’s quite possible that many of her recent health issues were due to the high levels of calcium in her blood brought about by the cancer. And we were warned that this was going to be painful.

Yesterday morning, Granny was at the Home and in pain – her back mostly. They called my father to see if they should issue her morphine and dad said yes. We wanted Granny to be as comfortable as possible. The nurse gave her one of those under-the-tongue morphine pills and rubbed her back. Granny thanked her and said she thought she’d take a nap. At 10:10am, she passed away. She was in no pain.

We’re having the viewing and funeral on Sunday. Amy’s coming in tonight (yay!) and Rachel’s coming in tomorrow (yay!), so we’ll have the whole family together for this event. On Monday, we’re having a private family interment at the cemetery. I think I’d like to say something that day, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to without crying.

If you get a chance, next time you read a book or pet a cat or play a nice game of cards, think about the feisty ladies like Phyllis/Mom/Grandma/Granny and the wonderful impact they’ve had on the lives of others. I know I certainly will.

I’m gonna miss my Granny. She was the last of my grandparents. She was a lover of books and of cats and of card playing, and probably the main reason I, too, am a lover of books and of cats and of card playing. I love you, Grandma! (“I know.”)


Phyllis “Granny” Short, 1920-2006