Category: LiveJournal

S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!

This last weekend was a fun one for socializing and shopping.

Friday was our annual teacher’s shopping trip (which, sadly, had been canceled last year). We had 6 of us that managed to get together to shop, starting at the bookstore in Troy and then visiting a number of local knick-knack shops. There were a few I’d not been to before. I bought stuff in most of the places; sadly most of it for me, rather than gifts for others.

After shopping, we ate at La Piazza and another coworker (actually, former coworker – she’s in Columbus now) joined us. The seven of us probably laughed all the time we weren’t eating. I have fun and funny coworkers!

I visited mom & dad afterward, since I was in their new hometown, and made plans for pancakes the next morning.

One of the local churches does an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast the first Saturday of the month during most of the year. (The church used to host the Kiwanis organization which did a breakfast every November. Kiwanis is now gone, but thankfully the breakfast lingers on.) So the folks came by (in the truck, to transport more stuff from their “Warehouse” (old house) to the new place). We walked to breakfast, then to the post office.

While at the church, I saw an ad for a local arts & crafts sale at the Bruckner Nature Center. I suggested that to the folks and they thought it would be fun. So once they’d loaded the truck with more antique furniture and deposited it at the new place, I took ’em to Bruckner. Wow, tons of cars there. But I found a nearby parking spot and we shopped.

And shopped. Man, there were a lot of local artists. They took up 3 floors of the nature center (often just in hallways between permanent exhibits). I saw plenty of people I knew. Even a former school friend – bought something off of her which I can’t say here since one of my friends on this list will be receiving the present. Anyhoo, lots of talented people in Miami County and other neighboring counties.

Yesterday was a lazy day. I cleaned (both Roomba and I vacuumed the place) and then worked on my thesis project. And that’s what I should be doing right now. Got cat on lap and Post-It notes ready. Just need to finish typing this up. Heh.

Those of you getting snow in the next few days – stay safe! (I’m not pleased by the promise of sleet. I intend to be oot & aboot tomorrow evening you know! Harry Potter 6 is on DVD!)

Query for Wii Owners

So I’ve been working on my Amazon.com Wishlist for a few days now (mom wanted her part of my list done in time for Cyber Monday) and one thing I think I’d like (and hopefully Judiang would like) is a nice Wi-Fi ready Wii game. It would be fun to play against (or with) Judi online with our respective Wiis.

Way back when she first coerced me to loving the game console (via purchasing it for herself and having me help set it up) we discussed Wi-Fi games and wondered if there was a decent Wi-Fi Tennis game. (We both enjoyed Tennis in WiiSports.) I read about one game that had good reviews for the tennis play aspect, but felt that the Wi-Fi was too laggy. So now I’m turning to my friends list for more ideas. (And if you have Wii-fanatic friends, please ask them for their opinion.)

What Wi-Fi enabled Wii games are out there that Judi and I should consider getting this season? Or is there something up & coming we should hold out for?

And in other Wii-related querydom… Thanks to purchasing the Internet Channel way back when I bought my own Wii, I now have the opportunity to get my 500 WiiPoints back by downloading one of their WiiConsole games for free. (It’s not all of the 500-point WiiConsole games, but most of ’em.) I already own Galaga (it was the no-brainer purchase back when I first installed the console), so I have to find something else to get for free. But I was never much of a console player, so I am unfamiliar with most of the games on the list. So again, I’ll take advice on WiiConsole games in the 500 point range which you’d recommend. (Examples: Donkey Kong, Kid Icarus, Legend of Zelda & Zelda 2, Xevious). I was sad to discover that, yes, they finally added Dig Dug, but dammit, it’s 600 points. Tsk.

Thanks in advance for any advice you have for me or that you can elicit from your friends!

Thanksgiving 2009

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you playing at home (or wherever)!

The kitties approve of the new Ikea furniture. Currently we are all sitting in the recliner and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Well, I’m watching it, Linus is watching me, and Lucy is sleeping with her head facing the TV.

I do think Linus suspects something about the old furniture – he spent a lot of time yesterday in the old pink recliner, which will make its way to mom & dad’s old garage later today.

Yesterday I enjoyed my day off mostly by cleaning the house, getting ready for the new furniture delivery, watching Fantastic Mr Fox, having Chinese fud for a late lunch, and more house cleaning. It was a good day.

As for Fantastic Mr Fox, I haven’t decided yet if I liked the movie or not. I enjoyed the animation, but my love of the original novel is affecting my feelings for the movie. Would I have enjoyed the movie had I not been a fan of the original book? Dunno yet. (Took me awhile to decide whether I liked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – and it had two beloved predecessors to fight against. I finally decided I liked the movie but really didn’t care for Depp in the movie.)

Anyhoo, after the parade, I intend to decorate for Christmas. With one of the greatest movies ever – Miracle on 34th Street. Such a fine film! Tonight for supper we go to Aunt Becky’s for Thanksgiving dinner. I’m bringing a cheeseball which I did make and a peach pie which I didn’t.

I really need to get up, turn the heat up (since it’s set for Trina at Work mode), and get some breakfast. But Lucy looks so comfy! (Linus has since hopped off to do whatever it is Linus does.)

Ikea – a Grand Adventure

I’m spending this weekend at mom & dad’s new house. Yesterday after work, I loaded up stuff for supper & clothes for the weekend and headed to the parental units’ new house. Before I could make their supper, however, we had to do a short trip to Kroger for some vegetable oil. We decided to try walking to the grocery. And it’s a nice walk, too.

On our way back, mom and I popped into Papa John’s (which is in the same shopping complex as Kroger) and bought two garlic butter packs (for the bread sticks I was going to bake). And when we returned, I mixed up the ingredients for Ghirardelli’s Caramel Turtle Brownie Mix and got that baking (the first thing to be baked in the oven – yay!) I also baked bread sticks and cooked the shrimp & broccoli alfredo on butterfly pasta (both MarketDay purchases). Before I’d left for the house, I’d made up a salad as well.

So we had supper at the dining room table (which is half covered in sort-of-unpacked glassware, but there was room for 3 of us). The alfredo stuff was tasty. And I’m glad we got the garlic butter sauce – that just set off the bread sticks nicely. We then settled down to watch Star Trek (the 2009 movie). It was a great choice to show off mom’s new plasma screen TV. We had brownies about halfway through. Tasty tasty!

We got up early today and headed to Ikea in time for their free coffee time. We all got the regular breakfast and also split an order of sausage gravy on biscuits. Then we did our mega-shopping extravaganza.

Dad’s main priority was getting the bookshelves for his den. Mom’s main priority was getting her tables for her bonus room. And I had a goal too – the Ektorp sofa bed and a matching chair. We all successfully found our goals and a few other things to boot. We filled the car and also each had stuff scheduled for delivery. (It’s $89 to get stuff up to 500lb delivered to our addresses.) The folks’ bookshelves and table parts will arrive Monday and I scheduled my sofa and chair (I got the Ektorp recliner) to come Wednesday, since we’ve got that day off.

Tonight we’ll go to the bookstore in Troy since they’re having their annual holiday sale, and then head to O’Brian’s since Rick Fannin is performing there again tonight. Tomorrow – who knows? I hope to get a walk in to Boston Stoker (local coffeehouse chain) tomorrow. Still haven’t been in their new store in Troy.

Short Update

My thesis proposal was approved by my advisor and he only had a few corrections for me to make. Woohoo!

My sister arrived today!

My folks are moving this Saturday to their new house (hence Amy arriving today).

I’m taking tomorrow afternoon and all day Friday off to help with the move.

I’m working on a Soooper Seeekrit Project for mom & dad in honor of their move (though I’m a bit behind). I’ll describe it more later (after I’ve given it to ’em – mom reads this journal, you know…)

We had supper at Indian’s Pizza (the local pizza joint which is owned by my coworker) with mom’s brothers & their spouses and my cousin Patty. Fun night out for all!

Should be a fun (albeit busy) weekend!

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween today!

Wound up being a productive day for me. I just sent the following to the Masters Thesis forum for our Science and the Public Program at uni:

They don’t call me Trina “A Day Late and a Dollar” Short for nothing. Let it be known that the proposal, she is-a-written. I’ve sent it to my father (a retired physical science teacher) for constructive criticism and should be able to mail it to Dr. Liu tomorrow (Sunday, the day after my self-determined deadline).

🙂 I then wished them all luck on their own goals. I’m liking the feeling of accomplishment, which may diminish a bit after dad gives me his commentary (and later Dr. Liu gives me his), but for now, it’s a nice feeling. I think I might be able to do this thing after all.

We Can Do It!

Today we could dress for Halloween. I decided on my costume a few weeks ago, and as with many of my previous costumes, it was rather inexpensive. Only purchase was a red with white polka-dot cloth. Mom was a great help – she suggested where to find the cloth (Jo Ann Fabrics), loaned & applied lipstick, and tied my head scarf on. Thanks mom!


We Can Do It!
We Can Do It!

Oh yes we can!
Alternate Pose
Alternate Pose

In order to avoid looking like I’m flipping people off, this was my usual “We can do it!” pose today at school.


BTW, the sheer number of people who asked if I was dressed as Aunt Jemimah… I know I’ve got the cheeks for it, but seriously….

I Aten’t Dead

Been ages since I last posted, so I figured I’d better pop a quick note in to say that all is well, I’m just a bit busy.

I’m working on my thesis proposal with a goal to have it done by Halloween – of this year. That would be, like, this Saturday. Ahem. So here I am, writing my literature review (or rather, taking a break from writing my literature review to give Lucy scritchies, comment on Twitter, and type this up).

Got my costume planned for Friday (dress up day at work) and should have photos this weekend. Tomorrow’s Beggar’s Night in our county, so I’ll be interested to see how many kids I get. I might wind up working on my proposal while I wait for the kiddies to pop by. The parental units are at their first party at their soon-to-be community tomorrow night, so no Beggar’s Night for them.

Last weekend was a Buy Music Weekend for me (and I partially blame gregmce for it) which I hope to write about soonish. I expanded my MP3 collection with the new purchases as well as with some older DW audios (the missing eps) finally ripped into my collection. And updated playlists. Etc.

This past weekend I also installed Winders 7 proper on my PC. Go me! Got it for the $30 college price. Yay for Masters program! (One of these days before my graduation I intend to get Adobe Web Premier for a reduced rate thanks to my scholarly ways. Heh.) Oh, and also related to college, I have registered for what I hope will be the final credit hour in my program. Yay!

OK, that’s enough procrastinating. I should get back to writing my literature review. (As I told the folks in Twitter, I’m not even done with my thesis proposal yet and I’ve already got 30 citations.)

School Tour

Ages ago, I think mentioned that we’re having a new school built. It’s been fun watching the progress of the building. Our superintendent tries to hold tours for the staff and neighbors about every 2 weeks. Here are some photos from two tours exactly a month apart. Neat to see the progress. For more photos (not by me, but by the Super) visit our school website and check out the New Building Updates pages.

Construction Treen

Construction Treen

Let Construction Treen take you for a tour of the building.

Gymnasium, Sept.

Gymnasium, Sept.

The roof wasn’t on yet in September (8, 2009)…

Gymnasium, Oct.

Gymnasium, Oct.

… but a month later (October 8, 2009), roof! What a difference a month makes!

View of my new Laboratory, Sept.

View of my new Laboratory, Sept.

A shot toward the lab side of my classroom from September 8, 2009. The opening to the outside will be a floor to near ceiling window. The pipes sticking up from the floor are drains for my sinks, I believe.

Classroom side, Oct.

Classroom side, Oct.

A month later (October 8, 2009), the room is looking better. This is the classroom side of the room. The floor to near-ceiling window is boarded today.

Laboratory side, Oct.

Laboratory side, Oct.

The lab is looking good! The doorway beside the floor to near-ceiling window is to the storage room. (Oddly enough, there’s brick between my room and it, yet will be drywall between it and the biology room. What, they think we’d blow drywall down in chemistry? Heh heh heh.)

New mode of conveyance for students...

New mode of conveyance for students…

To help the elementary students get more exercise, the new building will have a new way for kids to get around. Ceiling mounted monkey bars! (Oh, OK, it’s conduit for the wiring. But I couldn’t help but think they looked like exciting monkey bars.)

The Secretarial Pool

The Secretarial Pool

I was amused to find this puddle in the exact spot where the secretaries will be in the new building. So *that’s* what a Secretarial Pool is! 🙂

Winders 7 Upgrade for $29.99

When I found out about Microsoft offering Winders 7 for $29.99 to college students (thanks to Twitter) I immediately pre-ordered it, then passed the news along to my Twitter followers. And promptly forgot to mention it to LJers on my list. Whoops – sorry about the oversight!

So anyhoo, if you’re interested and you’ve got a valid .edu e-mail address (and preferably proof that you’re taking at least .5 semester hours in case they ask), you can pre-order Winders 7 for $29.99 from http://www.win741.com/. Click on the box that says “Buy.” You can get Premium or Professional, 32 or 64-bit. (I went 64-bit, Pro.)

UK college students, you, too, can be infected, er can buy Winders 7 for a low price as well. http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/studentoffer/

My main OS will still be Ubuntu (and I’ll probably upgrade to 9.10 when it comes out later this month), but for gaming and a few other Winders-only programs (MediaMonkey specifically), I’ll have my Winder 7 partition.

(Of course, I’m writing this current post on my laptop which has Winders XP on it. Heh.)