For the first time in my career, I worked overtime. When one is salaried, it’s not easy to have your boss agree to overtime. But the elementary lab needed getting done ASAP and they considered it enough of a priority for me to work some today.

I’m glad we did it this way. It only took me 3 1/2 hours to get the job done. Since there was NO ONE around, I didn’t get interrupted every 5 minutes about some account problem, computer problem, or printer problem like usually happens during the school day. Yes, there were setbacks. There’s always setbacks when I take on a computer task, it seems. But the setbacks were little ones, not the frickin’ huge ones that usually plague me. So, hooray! The elementary lab is DONE!

I was done by 5pm, and that was early enough in the evening to drive to Fairborn to The Bookery to get 3 months worth of Doctor Who Magazine and Dreamwatch (well, it might not have been 3 months worth, it just felt like it) plus The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol 2.

Then I went to the Evil Puppy Mall (ask judiang why it’s called that) to look around. Had a Great Steak sandwich and fries and orange pop for supper. (The sandwich really wasn’t all the great – that’s just the name of the shop.) Spent money at Waldenbooks (bad me, more manga – trying Fake and Ranma 1/2 next). Discovered there’s now a Williams Sonoma in the Evil Puppy Mall – woohoo! Now I can browse overpriced kitchen shit! Cool!

I returned home after that and have been avoiding working on the Lowry reunion address book. Tomorrow is the reunion and I intend to hand over the reins to someone else, but first I need to get it up to date. Probably something I can do after church but before the reunion. Or so I keep telling myself.

So I ask the crowd on IRC tonight what I should write about in my LJ post. And I get the distinct feeling that they’re hungry or something.

“Potatoes” said one. “Wheat Thins” said another. “Sunflower seeds” was the third food item suggested by someone else.

I like potatoes. When I order baked potatoes, however, I have to be careful not to put too much butter/margarine on ’em. I can go WAY overboard if I’m not careful. I’ve discovered that if I salt them a bit, I can eat them with less butter/margarine. Usually I’m not big on the salt on my taters thing. Not big on salt, period. Give me potato chips and I usually brush the salt off. Likewise with French fries. And PLEASE don’t give me coated fries or those horrid monstrosities that Burger King calls fried potatoes.

When I think of Wheat Thins I think of Sandy Duncan, who was once their spokesperson. And when I think of her, I think of The Cat from Outer Space. Then I think of Ken Berry and then Kinney Shoes (he danced in some of their commercials – or at least, I remember him doing so). And then I get confused because I wonder why I’m eating Wheat Thins and thinking about shoes…

Sunflower seeds are a wonderful addition to any salad. And once you rub the salt off of ’em, they’re great for munching on their own. Yeah, me and the salt thing. I even rub salt off of my cashews. And I often rub the salt onto my jeans afterwards, to clean my hand off for the next batch of salted food items that I wish were unsalted. Why not simply buy unsalted? Well, in potato chips, that’s rare to find. I do buy unsalted sunflower seeds and nuts, but sometimes I’m eating things purchased by others. Or the salted stuff was on sale but the unsalted was not. (And what’s up with that???)

The folks on IRC got to talking about other things as well, but I thought those three items would be more than enough to fill up a post. And I was right, too!

A Happy (Sylvish) Birthday to barbthebrazen! Hope you have a wonderful day!

In honor of your birthday, may I present a desktop wallpaper in your honor?

Desktop wallpaper from The Last Place on Earth.

Before the Troy Walmart became a Super Center (Walmart Plus Grocery), it was the best place locally to buy brand new DVDs. They had a great selection and great prices. But I noticed once they became a Super Center, the DVD selection just wasn’t as nice. Still, since yesterday was the day season 1 of Columbo was to come out, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and headed off (before Open House) to buy it, if they had it.

They didn’t.

Not only didn’t they have it, but according to the DVD release guide the lady showed me after she said that it wasn’t out yet (which I then followed with a snarky comment of “Just everywhere else, then” that I hadn’t intended to be audible, but apparently it was), they weren’t gonna be getting it.

Geez, that sentence just ran on and on. Sorry!

Anyway, tonight, mom and I went off to Curves (my first time in nearly a month – whoops! But the cool thing is that it was the 1-year anniversary of their start, so they had free chair massages – cool! And no, I don’t mean the chair got a massage. The lady who gave them works for Harmony Farm in Tipp City) and afterwards to Meijer so mom could buy some groceries. I went to their DVD section and they had it! Woohoo! For only a buck more than the best price I found online. Instant gratification, here I come! I even bought the DVD of Jesus Christ Superstar cuz I was happy and it was only $10. (This is the “original” with Ted Neely. I had the VHS, but not the DVD.)

I seem to be getting carried away with my parenthetical thoughts tonight. But that’s OK, cuz this post is OVAH! 🙂

Each year near the start of school, we have Open House. This allows parents and students to come in, see the teachers and the building, ask questions, chat, etc. It’s a nice informal way for the community to find out what the kids are doing during the school day. When I was in elementary, I loved showing my mom all of my teachers and classrooms. Heck, I even did it in high school. (Yup, I was a school geek.) And when dad had freshman science, he’d even get the lab set up with some sample labs.

Tonight, I had 3 sets of visitors. One was the father of a kindergartener who wanted to check out the old science room. He didn’t go to Newton, but he went to a similar school with a similar lab. We chatted for a bit until his wife and the little ones showed up. Then a fourth grader and his father came in. He did go to Newton and knew my folks (and I know his mom – she lives across the street from my parents). Another pleasant conversation. Finally my cousin, who’s in seventh grade, and her mom showed up. We also had a nice conversation before they headed off to find the oldest son.

So, I was only talking to future customers tonight. Kind of sad, but in a way, hopeful. And I was able to clean out my computer lab so that I can get the kids in tomorrow. (I go in early (again) tomorrow to set up their shared folders.)

It will be another Nyquil night – it doesn’t seem as bad as last night, so maybe I’ve kicked this cold in the teeth. That would be nice. (Though I’m sure it’s only the first of many in the school year.)

Today was a good day. elsaf‘s dogs got me up by 8am while Elsa was baking home made cinnamon rolls. Mmmm! judiang also managed to wake up in time for the rolls – they were very tasty!

While Elsa worked at getting lunch ready (her folks, brother, and Ardath were all joining us for a grill out), I worked on packing and cleaning up the airbed. Around 11am, folks started showing up. We had 7 people and 4 dogs hanging out in Elsa’s back yard. She made onion sammiches and her folks brought shrimp coctail as appetizers. The sammiches were quite nice. (Somebody famous invented ’em – Elsa will probably say who.) Meanwhile, there was a lamb in the grill (not a whole one, just the – heck, I dunno which bit. Bit that usually has a bone through it, but Elsa deboned it and stuffed it full of rosemary and garlic and stuff) and lots of items that folks brought along to share. Lunch was wonderful!

For dessert, Elsa grilled thick pineapple rings (with a marinade that she’ll probably describe) and we topped ’em with homemade Bailey’s Irish Cream Ice Cream. Yummy! Judi and I insisted upon extra ice cream.

After lunch, everyone sat around the patio talking and watching the dogs play (and sleep). Judi took a nap amidst it all. She’s amazing, really. But as 3 o’ clock loomed, people began to get their dishes and dogs and head off to home. I had no dishes or dogs, but I too got my gear together and headed off to home.

I’m in the process of getting a cold, I think, so the drive back wasn’t as pleasant as it could have been. I took a detour in Toledo to go to Media Play (though it took me a little while to remember how to get to it) and wake myself up. While there, I bought 3 Manga books (my first ever) for $20 and Shaolin Soccer for $14. I’ve been talking with timjr about Shaolin Soccer in his LJ. I watched a bit of it while eating supper – it’s definitely my kind of movie. 🙂 (Watching the Chinese original version with subtitles first. Then I’ll watch the hacked up and dubbed English version.)

When I got to Troy, I went to Walmart to buy milk and cold medicine, then to Fazoli’s for a club sub. Then home again to see my kitty! Now I’m going to head for bed early, doped up on Nyquil clone, and get up early tomorrow so that I can write out my lesson plans before school starts.

Apart from the developing cold, I had a wonderful weekend with the girls! Labor Day Weekend at Elsa’s is a fun tradition!

After an early awakening after a late going to bedding, elsaf made judiang and I eggs benedict for breakfast. Very yummy – my first time to have ’em. We then packed up the dogs and headed off to Elsa’s brother’s girlfriend, Ardath. The dogs were left behind with Ardath’s dog, Casey, and the three of us went off to the Michigan’s Renaissance Festival.

(Silly side note – while I was just off at Google looking for the URL for their RenFaire, I misspelled “festival” as “festial.” And discovered the official site as the first option! Yes, if you go to their site and look at the title on your browser bar, you’ll see the same spelling error.)

This was Judi’s first time at a RenFest and I think she had a good time. Maybe she’ll even write about it!

I went for the food and the cool weaponry they sell (for a pacifist, I’m sure fascinated by medieval weaponry). The girls, apparently, went for the dogs. Many people brought their dogs (which you could do, but you had to make reservations in advance) and all three of the girls are dog lovers. Still, I managed to sneak off to see many of the shops.

We had lunch almost as soon as we entered the place. I saw “bread bowls” with “cheesy broccoli soup” as an option and had to get one. It was very tasty. Then I got a Root Beer from another vendor. I have to be in the mood for Root Beer – that was the mood, apparently.

A bit of mooching about and shopping then took place. I bought a miniature marshmallow catapult for $10 and talked about catapults and trebuchets with the sales people. At another merchant’s store, I tasted some wild flower honey. It was tasty, but I decided against buying it.

We had been making our way to the jousting arena and arrived just as they were getting the crowd excited. Needless to say, there were no seats. Alas! But I got a fairly good standing position and was able to see and hear most of it. I even got some pictures. I shall post a few at the end under another cut.

After the show, it was apple dumpling time. The apple dumpling was one of the best I’d ever had. Very yummy! Judi and I were impressed with the festival food. Much better than Fair Food, I can tell ya (and I rather enjoy Fair Food).

We moseyed on down the back of the festival stopping in at more shops. I bought a wooden tic-tac-toe set since you could pick the color of the “men” for the board. I got green and purple, of course. Oh, and a purple top to make it $5 for the toys total.

By the time we got to the stage where Ded Bob played, that, too, was full, so we just sat for a bit. Then Elsa and I went to look at the two shops that sold harps. In one shop, a lady was selling her CDs, so we both bought one at “buy 1 for $10 or 2 for $15.” Very beautiful music. (We listened to ’em on the way back.)

We were exhausted and decided to head back to Ardath’s (to release Ollie from his crate and get Floyd). She made us some raspberry lemonade and we watched the dogs carouse. Then Elsa took us back to her place. (Ollie rode up front with Judi cuz I have no authority with him. Gee, he’s as bad as my students!)

Elsa grilled us hot dogs for supper on her charcoal grill. (That was the nifty present that Judi and I got her last year for her birthday.) Then I made amaretto sours for all of us. Now Elsa is busy working on stuff for tomorrow’s picnic while Judi’s playing Diablo II and I’m typing this up.

(Betcha anything Judi will claim to be too tired to write up an LJ post tonight.) EDIT (I’m not going to use ETA until I know what that means): Judi posted! Check it out here!

So, here are the pictures from today – some of the doggies, some of the festival.

A day late and a dollar short, here’s a photo of the presents that Elsa opened yesterday.

Elsa and Ollie, the new love of her life. (Floyd is still important too, but he’s not as easy to pick up.)

Judi, Elsa, and Ardath at the Festival.

The Festival parade (note the life sized Garden Gnome).

Our hero, the English Knight!

The evil baddie, the German Knight!

Our hero is victorious!

elsaf, judiang and I just got back from watching Hero. Absolutely amazing! As my subject says, the movie is basically sex for your eyes. Fabulous colors, amazing choreography, stunning cinematography, and damn good looking Chinese men. (Jet Li is OK, but Tony Leung (Chiu Wai) who plays Broken Sword is most assuredly eye candy.) The story itself is as beautiful as the movie.

The movie was a wonderful cap to a wonderful day. I got up at 7:15am and called Judi to make sure she didn’t sleep in. (She hadn’t.) Then got ready for the trip Oop North. I was on the road before 9am. The drive was nice, despite the fog that lasted until 10:45am. I arrived a bit earlier than my goal time of 12:30pm, and the girls were already back from the airport and waiting for me to arrive.

I got to meet the energetic Ollie and see Floyd (long suffering older brother, now) again. And soon Elsa was opening her belated birthday present from Judi and I. We got her a set (8 person) of melamine plates, bowls, tumblers, and flatware. It was a mix between plain purple stuff from Meijer and the swanky “Cabernet” melamine dishes from Kohl’s. Elsa was pleased – it’s just what she asked for. (Well, I don’t think “purple” and “from Kohl’s” was specificly asked for, but you get the idea.)

After a light lunch of sloppy joes (shall I tell of Elsa’s family’s secret ingredient???) Elsa put us to WORK. First we had to stain her new patio chairs. Very nice nekkid furniture that her brother got her for her b-day. We used teak oil. Our fingers still smell of teak oil. (Still, it’s beats skunk juice.) While we were on this task, Elsa’s brothers and folks and her nephew showed up to meet Ollie. Once the family left, Elsa had us pull out a dead bush and plant a new one in its place.

Well, the work accomplished, we had time to relax before our hot time out. About quarter past five, we headed off to a new Japanese steak house called Osaka. We started out with sushi rolls – I went for California roll – the more expensive stuff with no cucumber in it. Elsa got yellowtail and Judi got salmon. Then the chef arrived to serve us and the 4 others at our table. I ordered the shrimp & filet mignon with fried rice and the grilled veggies. He made the fried rice for us first, then the shrimp (everyone got a little, but those of us who ordered it got more) and other seafood items that folks ordered, then the veggies (onions and zucchini and mushrooms) and finally the steak and other meats. He kept giving the men at the table a bit extra where he could – and did the same with me. I wonder if he thought I was the man in our party…

The meal was wonderful and filling and averaged out to $35 per person. The chef was entertaining, as well. I think mom would like eating at a Japanese steak house.

Elsa then drove us to the theatre to see Hero which I discussed at the start of this post. Fabulous movie. Will need to see more of the director’s movies.

Now we’re vegging outside on her patio, all of us on her own laptop, each with a double amaretto sour. Geeking is fun!

Yay! First Friday after the first full week of school! Glad it’s here! Gonna have fun this weekend, too. elsaf is having judiang and I over this weekend for some movie watching, RenFaire visiting, and Labor Day grilling. Judi and I have put our pennies together to get a REALLY COOL birthday (belated) present for Elsa. We know what she asked for, but you know, what we found for her is SO much cuter! And tomorrow night, you’ll find out what it was, too! (Aren’t y’all just a quiver with excitement?)

Despite my frustration on Wednesday, I managed to get the computer completed for the individual who was without. This one was tougher because it’s one of the three wireless computers going in. Thankfully, the folks at Compex got me a version of their utility program that could actually install on computers, so I was able to get the card to see the wireless network. Yes, it’s now an encrypted network – wasn’t going to leave it alone for the weekend without encryption. I had to come up with a time delay for the logon batch file so that the utility software could fine the wireless network before the computer tried to map all its network drives. But everything seems to be working on it and the teacher was delighted that he can finally be on the network while in his cubbyhole classroom. (Believe me, this guy has the ittiest bittiest room in the school! Poor feller!)

Just need to set up the other two wireless computers. And the elementary lab. And 4 regular classrooms. And several smaller rooms. And get to the stack of repair requests. And all that jazz.

I’m hoping to be caught up by Christmas. 🙂

Oh, I *did* get some grading done this week! Yay! Had a day in physics that the kids were getting caught up, so I could too. Haven’t gotten the grades into GradeQuick yet, but perhaps next week.

My computer lab is still a mess, yet I intend to have the students in there next week. Maybe I can find something else for them to do Tuesday (haven’t written my Lesson Plans for the week yet) so that I have one more day to get the excess computers out of the way. 🙂 (My lab is the testing lab and it’s a great place to set up temporary machines for cloning etc.)

Well, enough rambling (especially as most of it is work related). I’m happy it’s Friday and I think we girls will have a wonderful weekend. Woohoo!

I’m sitting in the living room and watching seasn 2 of Coupling. Grief, I’m almost sore from laughing.

So for those who’ve seen season 4, is it still just as funny?