Author: trinalin

Leo the Lion – RIP

One of my parents’ worst nightmare – to be looking after Leo for me and him getting sick.

Today, he was sick. They thought the automatic feeder was broken and was feeding him too much. He became lethargic and had trouble breathing. They got an appointment to the vet and discovered Leo had an enlarged heart and was having congestive heart failure. The vet sent them home while Leo had more tests done. When they called at 7pm to see how Leo was doing, the vet informed them that Leo had passed away. He took one last gasp of breath and then died.

Poor Leo. I’m gonna miss him lots & lots.


Leo the Lion
July 22, 2001 – June 21, 2006

Film Canister Cannons

Today in physics, we played with Newton’s Laws and Energy and stuff. One of our activities was “Film Canister Cannons.” We used effervescent tablets & water which we put into film canisters. They put them nose to nose with an empty canister and watched them blow apart. So today while taking pictures of the girls, I also managed to grab a film of one explosion. You can watch the video here.

Physics is Phun!

B-WISER 2006

Another year, another science camp! Today marks the beginning of B-WISER, the 7th grade girls’ science camp held at the College of Wooster. The teachers and counselors have arrived (all except for my roomie) and the girls will be arriving soon.

We’re in another dorm this year. The first year that B-WISER’s not dormed in Douglas Hall for, like, ever. They’re remodeling that hall this summer, I believe, which is why we’re in Kenarden this year instead. The rooms are smaller than what we had in Douglas, but they’re not intolerable. And with the windows and door open, we’re getting a bit of a breeze (thanks, in part, to my fan). So hopefully it won’t be too hot to sleep in.

I drove here a different way than usual. Decided to avoid going south to go north and decided to take I-75 all the way up to US Rt 30, then head East. It was a pleasant enough drive. Most of US 30 is a freeway, which makes for easy moving. I did get pulled over on the way here. Whoops! No, I wasn’t speeding, but I didn’t pull into the left lane when I passed by a cop car with its lights on. I was thinking “I wonder if I should pull over to the left” and sure enough, he pulled me over to tell me that. ‘Tis only a warning, but it’s one I should remember for awhile.

Anyhoo, my roomie’s still not here, but I’m getting hungry. I might have to get a snack from the vending machine while I wait.

I should have more to post later, including photos of our smaller room.

Pwned!

The things you see when you’re running around Kings Row in City of Heroes:

Yup, in between beating up Lost and Vazhilok, Mr Alabaster likes nothing better than stopping into the local Pwn show and kicking ass.

The Package is GONE!

Back in May, I told the story about ordering a computer restore DVD and getting a TV picture tube instead. Well, Sony had wanted the picture tube back, so they put out a call tag (whatever that is) to FedEx to pick up the box the next day. I taped it up and took it to work (because school was still in session then) and explained it to the high school secretaries. All the Sony lady said was to tell them to mark it FedEx 2-day economy. So that’s what I told the secretaries.

That night was when I received the call from the lady at Sony telling me that someone else had the same issue. So I was afraid I’d have to send another picture tube back. Well, that ended happily, but when I arrived at school the next day, the package was still in the office. Apparently, when the FedEx guy arrived, he needed paperwork filled out on it. Paperwork? The Sony lady said nothing of paperwork. Well, I brought my Sony invoice in the next day and filled out the paperwork that the FedEx guy wanted. Only he never came back for it. I guess call tags are one time only. Bah, it was May and in May, no teacher has time for this sort of shit. So the box just sat in the office until school was finally out.

Wednesday I called Sony again and talked to someone different. I explained the situation and they said they’d get in touch with the Sony lady I talked to. I went to work and while there, the Sony lady called back. So the message was waiting for me when I got home. Anyhoo, the short story is, she put in for another call tag. Unfortunately, FedEx arrives between noon and five PM. This is the summer, the office shuts at 2pm for the most part. No matter, MJ and I had an emergency we had to deal with Thursday afternoon, so we were there until 4:30 (and actually, MJ was there til 5pm – blech!) So I figured the box would be gone when I came in the next day.

Well, when I got home, there were two messages on the phone. The first was from the Sony lady saying that the call tag would be for Friday. Bugger – we stayed late and they never did arrive. The next message was another lady at FedEx who left me a number & her extension & said to call the next morning.

Friday morning, I called Sony, again. The fellow who answered was nice, but didn’t know what to do about me wanting to contact someone by their extension. However, he dialed it and it was busy. So he found out who the extension belonged to and popped her off an e-mail telling her to call me ASAP. I then grabbed Leo’s brush & attempted to brush him while I waited. Luckily for Leo, I didn’t have a long wait.

It turns out, she was on another line to FedEx and was double checking the call tag details. I asked when they’d deliver and she said between noon and four. I explained that, with it being summer, folks bug out by 2pm. So she talked with FedEx and they assured her and me that it would be picked up before two.

At 11am, while I was helping a student burn a DVD of prom videos (he was lucky I hadn’t yet deleted the student accounts!) there was an announcement for MJ to get down to the superintendent’s office cuz FedEx was there. And yay – they took the package when they left! No more picture tubes!

You know, if there is a Hell, I’ll bet it’s just this. Red tape & bureaucracy, phone calls & missed appointments. Phooey!

The Weekend

This must be my spendy weekend. Yesterday, I went to the shops around WSU – first to my comic book store, then for Indian Fud, next to the Evil Puppy Mall, and finally to Gander Mountain, an outdoorsy sporting goods store in Huber Heights. I bought magazines, Chaco sandals, a watch, a billfold, and 2 pairs of FoxRiver Socks. A fine day out! Alas, I wound up forgetting to go to the Fishers for their Lousiana Boil. Bummer.

This morning, I got up at five til four am – gah! I drove mom & dad to the airport so they could fly to California for a week-long series of workshops through Westar. I received a call from them a bit ago – they made it successfully. Yay!

But anyhoo, after I dropped them off, I came home & went back to bed. When I finally did get moving, I headed off to Troy for the Strawberry Festival. I stood in like for 35 minutes for strawberry donuts (yum!), then I bought 2 CDs from a Native American flute group that was performing near the long donut line. Next was a lemonade shake up – yum! Lunch was BBQ chicken, and dessert was this super-sweet & bizarre concoction called a Strawberry Dough Ball. Basically, it was a Krispy Kreme donut, split in two like a hamburger bun, with whipped cream between the slices, strawberry pie filling on top and topped with more whipped cream. Very sweet, but hey, it was different! 🙂

I left the Strawberry Festival and did a run at the pet store and Staples, getting an automatic cat feeder for Leo (plus food & litter) and some double layer DVDs for me. I’ll leave you to figure which store I got which things at.

I finished my day out at Walmart where they repaired my glasses for free. Yay!

I’ve been goofing off at home ever since. Tomorrow’s the last day of school for teachers. Then I’m going to take Tuesday off. But then it’s back to work on Wednesday. Loads of computer things to do this summer!

A Comparison of Days

Yesterday morning, I got up at 5am and woke up judiang in the next half hour. She had a 6:55am flight back to Chicago (gah!), so we headed out to the airport. We arrived at United’s desks at 6:27am. And they wouldn’t let her get a boarding pass. They cited the 30 minute rule for not giving up her boarding pass (and did the same to an irate businessman). So Judi was forced to go on standby for the next flight out. Yuck!

(Oh, Judi, MJ says that it’s quite possible that UA had already given up your seat to someone else because they always overbook. Her hubby’s had that happen to him several times – they use the 30 minute excuse because they can. Blech. Dirty rotters!)

I would have stayed or driven Judi back or something, except that I had to get to work. I had promised MJ, the senior class adviser (and HS secretary – one and the same), that I’d be a chaperon for her on the senior field trip to King’s Island (an Amusement Park in Southern Ohio). Yeah, difficult work to get, no?

We left the school a little after 8am and headed for the park. We made good time and arrived before they opened. No matter, MJ got our tickets and we all skuttered into the park. It wasn’t long before the rides opened and a good portion of us rushed over to Drop Zone. I, of course, did the ride. And once I got off, I took my glasses out of the case where I’d stored them for the trip – and the screw promptly fell out of the left side. The lens fell to the ground, but didn’t break. However, the screw was a loss. Thankfully, MJ and the senior girls with us led me around to the next few rides. We did Face Off and the Racer. Oh, and the Vortex. And some others – but I’ve forgotten them!

Once it became lunch time, MJ and I headed to Skyline for lunch (yay 4-way Cincinnati chili!) while the girls headed off to try the bungee jumping ride, which was currently only $5 instead of the usual $20. After lunch, we headed for a store to see if they had any glasses repair kits. No luck there, and the salesman called to another store – they didn’t either. He did let me have some masking tape and I managed to repair the glasses for the rest of the trip.

MJ and I then headed off to the train station to meet the girls again. Once we got there, we discovered they’d been trying to call us – whoops! We never did hear the phones. Turns out they’d just left on the train we saw leaving when we arrived. So we sat in the train station and enjoyed a breezy, shady break from what was becoming a miserably hot day.

We headed to the water park section of King’s Island where we became Table Sitters. Joy joy. Almost all of the 27 seniors were in the park and left their bags, clothes, shoes, etc at a table (and half of another) where MJ and I sat, watching & waiting. Thankfully, a couple of girls arrived an hour later or so with smoothies and told us where we could get ’em. They watched the table while we nipped off to buy smoothies – yay! I got Mango/Pineapple. Note to self – don’t go barefoot when it’s nearly 90F and sunny – hot on the soles!

We stayed at the table for awhile longer, when MJ’s daughter and some of the other girls said we should switch tables – there was another near the wave pool that was shadier. Everyone gathered all the stuff up (except for one boy’s boots – we’d warned him we weren’t taking them with us) and we moved tables. MJ and I did get to wade in the water – which was refreshing.

Eventually, folks were ready to go back to the main park. Our group of girls decided to do some kiddie rides. We did the Wild Thornberry’s water ride – we thought it should be safe. Everyone getting off the ride was barely wet. Nope. I went with 3 of the girls in one log, MJ went in the next with her daughter and another. And we all came out drenched! Damn, if only we’d known this earlier in the day! 🙂

We did some other kiddie rides, then headed towards the Festhaus for supper. Only we got distracted by the Pop Star try-outs they were doing under the Eiffel Tower. The girls decided they’d enter and sing Stacy’s Mom (but substitute it for Amy’s Mom in honor of MJ). They managed to get a number of the other seniors there to watch and finally got to perform. They did pretty well, and I thought they were better than the girl who kept winning the rounds. They lost, despite being the audience favorite. They got tissues and Loser badges, which they wore proudly to dinner. Supper was La Rosa’s pizza (you’d think they’d want to distance their name from the pizza they serve at King’s Island, but there ya go…) And then Graeter’s Ice Cream for dessert. Graeter’s is a local ice cream manufacturer that is wonderful. And the ice cream here was no different. Yum! I liked it so much, I had some before supper AND after supper. Judi would be so proud!

After ice cream, it was time for the park to close. So we all met up front and took several pictures of the seniors in front of the fountains and Eiffel tower. They even got me in a couple – yuk! Anyhoo, we all headed off to the bus for an uneventful ride home. It was a truly good day.

And while I was having all this fun (hot & shitty fun, but still fun), where was Judi? Still at the airport! Gah!

While I was chaperoning, I kept texting Judi to find out her status. And it just never got much better. When the 10am flight came around, they were too full, so no go for Judi. Then she was shooting for the noon flight. And the 3pm flight. And eventually the 6pm flight! Already at the airport for 12 frickin’ hours and they couldn’t get her on a flight?

We sent several text messages (I think I got 14 from her throughout the day) with a couple of actual calls during the day. I felt so bad for her having to deal with all that shit & boredom while I was having fun watching senior bags and shoes. Once they finally DID get Judi onto a flight, it was delayed! Good grief! There were storms in Chicago, apparently.

In the end, she did get home – yay! And she got home around the same time that I did! Eeep! Poor Judi!

Apart from Judi’s horrible trip home, I think she had a nice weekend with me and elsaf. I know that I loved having them here again! And it’ll be great seeing them in Chicago for the 4th of July! And grief, I hope I don’t have to wait a day at Dayton International to get there!

Lazing @ the Lake

This has been a fun (albeit warm) weekend @ my folks cottage. We’ve been having a great time and eating lots of great food. So, ditto what Elsa and Judi said. (Heh heh.)

WRT (with respect to) the things we’ve been viewing: my easy-to-please nature & ability to turn off my brain while watching stuff means that I really enjoyed last night’s Doctor Who and the X-Men movie. 🙂

Also, I post for your culinary enjoyment, a photo of last night’s German Meal. (Supper by elsaf, photo by dad. Oh, and dad supplied the photos for my Lake icon and judiang‘s new Lake icon.)

German Meal - yum!

I couldn’t top that meal, but I did grill some mean steaks & veggies tonight. And Elsa bought us a sugar cream pie for dessert. Yum!

Memorial Day Weekend at the Lake – 2006

Ah, it’s good to be in the 3-season room at mom & dad’s cottage at Lake Loramie again. It means (a) summer’s nearly here, (b) the girls are visiting, and (c) I can nap whenever I want!

Yesterday, I picked judiang up at the airport, took her to KFC for lunch, brought her back to my place, and then finished up at work. After work, the high school teachers were treated to an ice cream sundae bar in appreciation for the great OGT (Ohio Graduation Test) scores that the sophomores got this year. 82% or higher passed each of the tests (Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, and Science) and 76% passed all 5 tests. Yay sophomores! Yay teachers!

When I got home from work, Judi was sleeping (no! such a surprise!) so I geeked a bit, transferred some David Tennant vids from her laptop to my PC (for burning onto a DVD for watching this weekend – providing the DVD player here can play ’em) and played with Leo a bit. Once Judi was rested up, we zipped off to BW’s for booze (amaretto sours, of course) and wings, chatted with my coworkers there (many of whom Judi met on our trip to Italy last summer), and then bugged out. We then headed to Pizza Hut to get pizza for the Shorts. I ordered 2 large pizzas, going halvsies on each. Pineapple/cheese, sausage/pepperoni. I figured there’d be something for everybody – and there was.

Once we got to town, I dropped Judi off at Becky’s with the pizza, then popped round to Robbins’ gas station for some chips (ranch Doritos and Munch ’ems) and pop for the Judester and myself. Back to Becky’s for pizza (Becky, Deanna, mom, dad, and my little cousin Taylor were also in attendance) and conversation. And then it was time to play cards. Dad and Taylor bugged out at that time to their respective homes. And in honor of Granny, we started the game off by all saying “Shit!” in unison. We miss you, Granny!

So we played our usual game of Shanghai Rum and, as usual, complained the whole time about it. “Why are we playing this game?” “I hate this game!” “Crap, another bad hand.” You’d think we were a group of masochists, but honestly, it’s FUN to play and bitch about!

As for who won, well, it’s not that important. But I suppose if you really want to know, judiang will probably have the blow-by-blow on her journal. 🙂

After the game, mom went home cuz she had to work the next day (blech) and Judi and I returned to my place. I gave Leo a day’s worth of food, which he proceeded to eat. Then I packed and we headed off to the Lake. We chatted on AIM with hergrace and elsaf for awhile as we got caught up on LJ and chatted on IRC. Then around 2am, we finally headed for bed. And I proceeded to wake up at 5:30am. I think my cat finally has me conditioned. I didn’t get up until 8am, however. So there, Leo!

After half an hour of playing CoH on Judi’s laptop, I started vacuuming the floor (cleaning up after the plumbers who had to install a new water softener yesterday). And I’ve got stuff soaking in the sink (cuz mom & dad couldn’t wash because of the plumbers) which I’ll get to after this.

Elsa should be arriving around noon and dad will get here soon, so we’ll have hot dogs on the fire and whatever else we pick up at Wagner’s before they arrive. Yay! It’s so good to be at the Lake! Yay for memorial day weekend!

Getting back to normal

So, I know you’re wondering – did the restore DVD ever come in? Well, I was afraid it might not. The day after the picture tube arrived in lieu of my DVD I received a phone call from the service lady I spoke to the previous day. She said that they’d had a complaint just like mine that day! Someone else had received a picture tub instead of DVD as well! I was afraid I’d find another large box on my porch the next day. But no! The next day there was a padded envelope in my door. Yay! DVD for me!

Thursday, then, I was able to restore my computer back to Windows Media Center Edition. As soon as that was done, I installed the video card and then transferred all of my files from the SATA drive I’d copied them onto. And as soon as that was done? Yup! Time for my fix! I played City of Heroes for an hour or so and enjoyed it immensely.

Ever since then I’ve been tweaking the computer to get it back to where it was before (or better). I’m currently deciding on skins & desktop colors. I’d been using “Brick” from Winders Classic (we use that at school) but wanted a change. Before then, I had a Seventh Doctor color scheme (lots of red & yellow like the logo). But now I’m going with black/white/gray. I have a few skins for QCD that work with it (one even has purple on it – yay!) Now to find something for Trillian that does the same.

(Hmmm, you know, I really like tweaking my computer. I’m glad I’ve now got this restore disk so that I can do this all over again when things get unweildy. Heh.)