*Big DumpTruck*

Fantasy Bazeball

Well, I didn't end up in last place. My team, the Bench Warmers, who spent the first few weeks of the season in 1st place, finished up in 8th. Just when I finally got my team straightened out, the season ended. I swear, next year I'm going to do better. Hell, I did better this year because of things I learned last year. But one of my biggest flaws is that I leave people in too long. If one of my players has a great May, his June AND July can stink before I pull him out. Next year, I'm going to be better, I swear.

My Fantasy Football team, by the way, is in 5th place. I may drop to 6th after the Monday Night game, but hey, it's not last place. Oh, but uh, it's not if you win or lose, right? As long as my QB doesn't throw 4 interceptions again next week, I'll be happy.

Project Greenlight

There is just no way I'm going to finish this script by Wednesday. Or it would be finished (barely) but not edited, and that certainly isn't going to impress anyone. I guess maybe I'll keep working but I've got SO many more pages to write...it needs to be a minimum of 80, and well, I'm not there yet. Not even close (Okay, I've only got 8 completed pages). I thought I had until Thursday, but I only have until Wednesday. PLUS you have to fill out an application, pay $30, and also register your script with two different organizations (to protect your copyright) which I'm sure costs money as well.

I'm kind of sad that I didn't get it finished, I certainly had enough time to do it, I just didn't have it at the top of my To Do list.

Well, I'm not wasting the beautiful weather of the next three days only to find out I don't have the money to do this OR a completed script that I think stands a chance. So I'm going to go pumpkin picking today. It won't be as exciting as yesterday, but that's okay too.

Wouldja Look at Me!

Wow, first I give you a whole page of pictures of a cow giving birth, and then I updated my Open Letters page. I'd better go rest now.

Somedays, You Just Hit the Jackpot

I was going to explain here, but I ended up putting all the text on a page with photos. Nothing particularly "gross" but beware that this stuff may bring up a conversation you haven't had yet. September 27, 2002 - a new "cow girl"

Oooh, a Sever Weather Alert!

I have to admit, my heart beats a little faster when I see a red asterisk next to my city's name on my Yahoo page. It means something's happening...something...just a little out of the ordinary. Xtreme Weather! Okay, so the link will maybe show you nothing, if you aren't reading this today. So I'll cut and paste for you slackers.

" The remnants of Isidore...Over Ohio late this morning...Will move  
across southern Vermont and southern New Hampshire tonight.   

A Wind Advisory is issued when sustained winds are forecast to be 31  
to 39 mph...Or gusts will Range between 46 and 57 mph. Winds of  
these magnitudes May cause Minor property damage without extra  
precautions. Motorists in high profile vehicles should use caution  
until the winds subside. 

I don't know if I have a high profile vehicle or not. I think maybe I do, because I used my inkjet printer to create a bigdumptruck.com bumper sticker (removable) and I'm kind of pleased with how it raises the profile of my 10-year-old car. I am noticable, baby.

On the other hand, I'm glad I saw this because I shouldn't leave the umbrella in the stand. And I should give a Flintstone's Chewable to my lawn pinwheel, cause he's gonna be busy tonight.

Waterproofing

I was going to put Junior in his new boots today (light up construction vehicles on the side...he's just about too old/bigfoot-y for these light-up shoes so we're enjoying this last pair. But I realized I hadn't waterproofed them yet, and she is mighty rainy out there today. Good think he didn't see the boots before I remembered, or I would have had a wrestling match on my hands.

We got the new 3-2-1 Penguins video yesterday, and I was a little disappointed. I do love the series, but this one just wasn't as good as the last one. It also seemed REALLY short. I will have to go back and look at the running time of the others, but I guess I just wanted more for my money, when you figure you can buy a full length movie like Monster, Inc. for the same price. I understand Big Idea isn't Disney, but from where I sit, my wallet is looking for relief. Oh, and we also got a Larry Boy videotape for only $9. I actually think this one is better than the last one, but I might need to watch it again. As if there were any question about it.

So now I'm all pumped to see Jonah in two weeks. Junior doesn't understand why I'm so excited but I find their movies really funny, plus after owning them all for the past 3 or 4 years, I'm psyched to to see a full-length feature at the movies. So there!

Pre-Season Christmas Shopping

I'm calling it that, anyway. I was just poking around on Amazon, trying to decide which game system would be the best one to get for a 5 year old (cause Junior turns 5 two weeks after Chrismtas). I narrowed it down to a GameCube or a PS2. I know Mr. Dump things the PS2 is the way to go, because it will play all the old games and DVDs, but looking at the available games for kids Junior's age, I am leaning toward the GameCube. The other systems seems to be overflowing with sports and racing games. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But of all the games we have for the current Playstation, the sports games are his least favorite. He does have a few racing games he likes, but he isn't in it for the RACE part of the race. With Lego Racers, he likes to build his car and pick out his little Lego guy.

So I decided on a gamecube, because there were a LOT of other action and adventure games that are "safe" for younger kids. I piled up my Amazon wishlist with all the games that looked the most like stuff he (and I) would like. Now I just have to wait for a regular paycheck. Or lottery winnings. Except I haven't played the lottery in quite some time, so I'd better not count those chickens.

p.s. Is it cold in here or is it just me?

Another Film to Amuse You

If you're like me, you don't get to the cineplex too often. That's why I am now providing you with free movies to view in your browser. No need to thank me.

Question of the Day

While waiting in the drive-thru line at Dunkin Donuts yesterday, Junior asks "Why do old people like coffee so much?"

Well, that's a good question. I have no idea, as I AM NOT AN OLD PERSON!

Googlicious

I put that Google toolbar on my copy of Internet Explorer, and it has a little icon for page rank. If you hover over the button it tells you the importance rating of the page you're on. The main Dump page is 6/10 for importance. The blog's importance rating is only 4/10. I think we can do better than that, don't you?

In other news, stuff I wrote last Friday is already in Google being searched. I'm talking about Tom Brady dating Tara Reid. Of course, now let's see how long before this gets picked up too. I don't begrudge these guys the chance to date, but geez, do they have to date the hottest women on the planet?

That Just Ticks Me Off

Okay, Monday morning rant. Not really a rant, but you know.

1. Job listings on monster.com that are no more than an ad to buy someone's "book" of available work from home "opportunities". Slimeballs.
2. Buying a package of Memorex CD-Rs and having HALF of them fail. Yes, literally every other one was bad. I reached a point where I almost tossed every other one before even trying it.
3. Unavailable refills for the CD labelling "system" I use. I know I could switch to something else, but that means my templates will no longer work, which means I have to create new ones from scratch, and that's a pain in my arse.
4. Something else. I'm not sure what, but I know there will be something.

Woooha, we got us a sweat-er

It's late September, and I wanted to go to the Bolton Fair today. It just didn't work out. Junior seems to have been hit by some allergy thing, as have I a little bit, and it's freaking hot out there. I mean, not July hot. Well, sort of. It was about 87 and very humid. It was just a sticky gross day and I had visions of the Sterling Fair from two weeks ago dancing in my head so I decided not to push it. I think being hot and sticky while sneezing and with a runny nose could have resulted in the mother tantrum of all time at some point. I think it's better to just write off the fair this year, and look for something next week that will maybe kind of sort of take its place, even though nothing can. I mean, this is a fair where the midway can't be seen until you're in that particular field, so it would have been ideal for us. We just wouldn't go down to that part of the fair, y'know?

Scream Collecting

Got Monster's Inc. Love it. Love the two shorts that are included. Like the outtakes. Got me to thinking...there's an animator out there who goes to cocktail parties and says
"Ya, I worked on that Pixar movie."
The Cute Young Thing (tm) looks at him in awe and says "Really? Which part did you do?"
"Uh, I spent the last year working on an outtake".

I mean, that's someone's whole reason for being. To create something that is classified as a mistake.

Why Are They All Taken?

I just found out that local hero Tom "Ain't No Fluke" Brady is dating Tara Reid. And last week I found out my Nomar is dating that soccer chick, Mia Hamm. Is there no hope for the overweight average-looking women of the world ever dating a Boston sports hero? Adam Vinatieri is married, isn't he? Oh, look his website says "He is currently married." What the hell kind of statement is that? When is the expiration date on that puppy?

Forget them, I'm going back to Anthony of the Wiggles then. You can laugh all you want, at least I can say that the distance is what's keeping us apart.

CD Burning

I'm making my own greatest hits CD. Not the greatest hits of one artist, but the greatest hits (in my opinion) into collections. Maybe I'll call those "Now That's What I Call Music" people and tell them I've got their next CD all picked out. Of course, some of the songs are twenty-five years old. But I don't think that should matter, do you? Some of the best songs in the world are 25 years old.

My Way Cool Foreign Film

I directed a film. It can be seen here.

I Don't Appreciate Your Lying

I drove home from Waltham the other day, after visiting my old stomping grounds at IMI. Somewhere along the way I ended up behind this truck and I got to thinking "how can they control it?" I started thinking that it would be really hard to do that. In fact, maybe they're just saying it's controlled but it isn't. So I tried to keep up with it. I am happy to tell you that it's capable of going faster than 70mph. I don't know what to do with that information, but there you go. (Yes, I did have my digital camera with me. That's the joy of having a tiny one.)


Also, BIG PROPS to my mom and dad, who paid for car stereo repairs today. I now drive their old Maxima and the speakers (Bose) were blown when they gave it to me. And it only had a tape player. But you couldn't listen to it at ALL because of the horrible electrical noises it would make when turned on. So today we got it fixed, threw in two new speakers, swapped the old stereo for the one that had been in my van, and rewired the two front speakers. All-in-all, over $300 worth of work was done. But now it works, and sounds pretty darned good. I'm going to make sure I get my $300 worth out of it. Thanks mom and dad!

Thursday

I'd better check to see if there are any good shows worth TiVoing tonight. I sort of missed that it's the beginning of the fall TV season. Not that it matters. I didn't see anything that jumped out at me, except maybe the Bonnie Hunt sitcom, but that's because I love Bonnie Hunt. I got that on the TiVo the other night, so I'll try to get to it soon.

Sometimes you see something and you think "did they really mean for us to see both of those pictures at the same time?" And then you think "If I click on the link will I see a slideshow made up of all the same picture?" But then you just do a screen capture and you don't bother to click on the link because it's funnier in your head than it would be on the screen. Image captured from Yahoo, where I get all my news.

Uh, No Thanks

I will not lie...I love to browse around Amazon's website. I put things in my cart, I ad them to my wishlist, I remove things from the cart and wishlist, etc. I visit Amazon daily, in fact, to check out the Gold Box offers. Because you never know when the world's greatest bargain will be in front of you. As I sit and think back to the heady days of the dot.com boom when online stores would sell you stuff for pennies (literally) just to get you as a customer. Oh man, I saved SO much money by shopping online back then. Anyhoo, I was just looking for something I actually need over there, some replacement blades for an electric razor. I found my model, the Remington WDF-5000 Women's Shaver. The replacement parts are $20. Okay, I'll put them in the cart until I can check around to see if that's the going price.

But what the hell is this? No button to add to cart? Oh, they must be out. But look, there's a button to ORDER IT USED. Now I don't know much about a lot of things, but I do know that the last thing I want to buy is used razor blades, electric or not. I cannot even comprehend this. It's bothering me so much that I just emailed amazon to tell them. We'll see if they reply.

Hey! Where Did My Post Go?

I wrote up a post for today, I swear I did. And just before IE exploded all over me and my desk, I thought I posted it. Apparently it was lost in the storm. I was complaining about IE so maybe it censored me. I hate when that happens!

94% humidity out there right now. I feel like renting a SCUBA tank. Blech. I don't remember what the earlier post was about, maybe something about spending 4 hours trying to figure out what happened to IE and get it re-loaded. That was fun. Like I didn't want to get anything else done today. I did. I was just afraid to touch the darned computer until I figured out if I had a virus or something equally scary. (Insert WoooOOOOooo ghost noises).

I also took the time to load Windows XP Service Pack 1 today. It seems to have upgraded gracefully and successfully, except for one tiny thing. The Calculator is gone. WHERE IS MY CALCULATOR? Windows has had calc.exe since it was a pup. I use it ALL the time. Suddenly, no calculator. Are they kidding me? What the hell happened here? Now I have to download some silly freeware calculator? Oh man, that chaps my butt. There'd better be a simple explanation for this.

Anthony Field, I love you!

I know that it's a very slim chance I have, catching his attention this way, but maybe he sometimes googles for his own name. If so, maybe he'll read this and drop me a note at jody@bigdumptruck.com to tell me he knows of my adoration. I'm talking about Anthony Wiggle himself, Anthony Field. My friends think I'm wacky, but he's right up there with the Kratt brothers for "men who are adored by moms stuck watching their shows. I never got the women who had a thing for Steve from Blues Clues, but Anthony. Mmmm. I just found a link on the web that said he was on a Bachelor of the Year list for some media magazine. Must have been in Australia, because it was back in 1999 and the Wiggles hadn't really made it too far here by then. I, of course, already owned videos at that time. But now we're watching their old show on the Disney Channel.

I also found a link that said Anthony starred in a movie. I wonder if it's available in the US?

Anyway, Anthony, if you read this, I'd like to extend and invitation to swing by for a big plate of Sketties with junior and I. He'd really be thrilled. Him. You know, the 4 year old. Oh, and his mother.

The Air Show

We didn't go to the air show this year. It's just a big excuse to suck all the cash out of my wallet. Actually, the "air show" part of it is pretty cool. I remember going back 14, 15 years ago, and it was all about the planes. Now they have the carnival rides and a midway. I did that last week, thanks. I can't afford to spend $10 for a single ride on the ferris wheel just a week after doing it at the Sterling fair. I told Junior I'd take him, as long as he didn't ask me to go on any rides. Thus, our not attending this year. Because we live relatively close to the airport, we can hear the airshow, we just can't see it. That's okay with me. I mean, I love watching the air show, but it's not just an air show anymore. It's like my vow to not attend the Sterling Fair anymore. It used to be a good fair. Now it's just an excuse to have carnival rides. I don't need that.

Gotta get my dad's birthday present wrapped, we're heading over to have a party for him today.

Saturday's score

Minigolfing = 4
Marshall's Apple Barn = 10
Mowed whole lawn = 2 (only positive because it's done and it looks good)

So today gets a 16. Not bad, considering we were trying to avoid going to the Air Fest (because I just cannot afford another weekend of carnival rides.)

Now Junior got to see a lot of the air show from a spot up the street from my mom's while I went grocery shopping, so add 5 to his day. And right now we're contemplating staying up and parking somewhere to watch the fireworks. That would add about 10, except I'm not sure how much he's going to like them. If we don't go, I won't be crushed.

NaNoWriMo!

NaNoWriMo! has a new web address for 2002. I think I'll sign up again. For those of you new to my blog, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. Last year 3000 people signed up to try to write a whole novel during the month of November. I mention my novel every once in a while...most recently I mentioned I was going to attempt to turn my nanowrimo novel into a screenplay (it's not really happening the way I thought it would. I don't think I'll be sending project greenlight $30 (I don't have it, honestly) but I will participate as a reader.

Anyway, if you want to join me and all the others, signups start October 1st for this year.

Unusable

I'm going to try to remember to make my site more unusable. No wait, that's bad, right? Sorry Jakob, don't have the 10k, and I actually think I can handle it myself.

p.s. Why did I just now notice that today is Friday the 13th? Why was I not given a heads up on this?

Land of 1000 Toys

Should I give in to the toys and papers, books and "stuff" and stop trying to keep things tidy? If I give in to it and accept it as our decor, maybe it will make it easier to look for a clean spot to walk on the floor.

*sigh*

My Living Tribute Tile

At Yahoo

3025

3025 victims...that's the official tally, but really, how many thousands, millions, are really victims? All of us, to some extent.

I had a job interview in Boston, stressful enough a situation that I was more focussed on myself than the fact that I was heading into a major US city on the first anniversary of 9/11. Well, that only lasted until some of the roads I wanted to take were closed down for various ceremonies. The directions I was using had me driving by the State House. That road was closed. I don't drive in Boston, and don't know what made me choose to do so today. It was a lovely morning, and I just thought it would be a good thing to do. It was and it wasn't. I got lost, and the traffic problems caused me to be late. Luckily the woman I interviewed with was just wonderful and understanding. She actually talked me through part of the re-routing to find a different way to get to their office.

But along the way I passed a couple of ceremonies, which allowed me to feel I was a part of something, even if I was alone in my car. During the first moment of silence, I was in Concord MA, which is a place I always equate with the birth of the U.S., and freedom. There were cars pulled over to the side of the road on both sides of route 2. That impressed me. The woman in front of me stuck a flag out the window at that moment. Cool. I like people. In downtown Boston I passed a ceremony across the Street from the library. They had the word Peace written on large signs in multiple languages. It looked like a good place to be, to remember.

I wonder what it was like at Logan airport today...how the employees are holding up. In their hearts, they are wondering if there was anything they could have done to prevent those planes from leaving the ground, if there was a way they could have stopped it from happening. I suppose if there had been a way, they would have, but who knows. It's just hard knowing the planes came from Boston.

I'm home now, catching up on some work. The wind kicked up and it's angry, tossing my deck furniture all over the place. Maybe I'll go out and kick a chair over too. Maybe it will be a good release.

It Feels More Like July

I just haven't been using my school supplies as much as I thought I would when I bought them. Maybe I just didn't need a Trapper Keeper at my age. Oh, alright, I didn't buy a Trapper Keeper. Do they even make them any more? Remember how cool you felt when you were in 9th grade, lugging one of those babies around? I remember. I just don't remember using it for anything. That might have been because I never did any homework. I don't ever recall sitting at the kitchen table, tapping a pencil against my forehead, trying to answer math problems. How exactly did I get through high school?

Day 3 of 90+ temps. Didn't want to go all the way back to the beach today. I'm doing laundry, and Junior and I are going to go up to the top of Mount Wachusett and look at things with our binoculars. After we borrow them from my dad.

Beach Weather

Yup, we did get to the beach! Something clicked in Junior's head and he's suddenly not afraid to get his face wet, plus, he doesn't get water in his mouth every 15 seconds. We picked up a cheap boogie board at a store selling everything off before they close for the season and he was totally into it. Riding all the breakers right in to shore like he's been doing it forever. I was amazed and proud. I'm just sad that the season is over. I guess I'm going to have to think about next summer's vacation early. Obviously a beach vacation would be a good idea for the little fish. He wants to go back tomorrow but I don't really want to. I need to try to find some work - maybe get some stuff mailed out to local businesses, and scan all the job websites. But it's going to be 90 again. So I should go. I mean, how many more days will we have like this before next summer? And me without a job, so available to just go.

I think ideally we should have stayed over somewhere - it's the drive that makes me not want to go back, but obviously that's not in the budget. Bananas and milk are, hotel rooms, not. My other secret fear is that I'll get some sort of bizarre sunburn, and I've got a job interview on Wednesday. I don't want to look stupid. Why do I feel like such a heel, then. Shouldn't my son come first?

Hot Child in the City

Yowsa, headed out to the Sterling Fair today. I need to review, but I believe last year I promised myself I wouldn't go back if it was hot. It's 90 today. Oh Lordy, what a bucket of sweat I was. Left, came back here, and let the boy water the lawn using the nozzle on the hose. Actually, it was an excuse for him to spray himself. Very much fun was had.

Now I'm trying to keep him awake past 6:30. He's SO tired. I am too, but I'm hoping to last until 7pm. Tomorrow, record-breaking heat. My plan is to go to the beach. Wish me luck.

Saturday Stuff

A friend just sent this to me. I think there's going to be a lot of "junk" mail coming in the next few days. People sending notes with .wav files of patriotic songs embedded, etc. The link to this page by the Blue Man Group took my breath away. It's beautiful and painful at the same time. It's funny, I've become numb to a lot of the emotion from one year ago this week, but every once in a while something I see or read does reach past all the scar tissue and hit me. That link did. A column James Lileks wrote this past week actually made me cry. There's going to be some good stuff and some bad stuff out there, all "taking advantage" of all the emotion. Not necessarily for financial gain, but just to ride on people's emotions. Try to stick with the good stuff. Like the two links I just posted.

Playing with Sand

Okay, I've been playing with the Asylum Sand Art therapy all day, and here are two of my masterpieces. Yes, I am opening my own gallery. If you would like to buy a copy of original sand art, contact my agent.





This makes me think longingly of the church fair when we filled the strangely elongated Pepsi bottles with colored sand. Except I have no source for fried dough or cotton candy here at home. And no scary carnies are hanging around. Well, at least none that I know of.

Asylum Sand Art therapy

Thanks to Anji who sent me this link to the Asylum Sand Art therapy page. Oh man, this is fun!

Isn't That Someone I know?

You ever have one of those moments where you see someone on TV and for the life of you, you can't remember how the hell you know the person? I'm watching VH1 Classic's "Allstar Jams", and there's a woman talking between some of the videos. She looks really familiar and I have no idea why. Only her first name is on the bottom of the screen.

15 minutes after I first spot her, I'm watching a Billy Joel video and it hits me...it's Lynn Hoffman formally of Mix 98.5! Cripes, how the hell did I even recognize her? I guess I poked around on the website once to see what everyone looked like. I'm kind of impressed that I retained the info, to be honest. Anyway, I'm only posting this because about once a week I get hit with a Google search for her name because I think a while back I posted that she should cut out the dumb act, it was making me insane given that it was a relatively recent personality change.

So I don't see anything about there on Google verifying that it IS her, but I'm telling you, I'm positive I'm right. There's a Gary Glitter's on doing Rock and Roll Part II. Yikes, nice hair Gary. Okay, Hall & Oates is on. John Oates' hair is amazing similar. Huh.

(Oh, and the pillow thing worked. Feel free to use it with your own kids.)

Just Your Basic Mom-Stuff

Sometimes I wonder how I come up with this stuff. Especially when it works. Tonight Junior is sleeping at Dads. My job is to pack the bag, even though Junior is 4 and I've told him he's responsible for his own "extras".

I just got a call...it's bedtime, and "you forgot to pack a friend." Oh boy. I remembered everything else, including the vital beyond belief "blankie". But I didn't pack a friend.

Mr. Dump puts Junior on the phone

Me: Honey, can you just go one night without a friend? You have Blankie!
Him: No.
Me: Just one night?
Him: I'm not very happy right now
Me: But you've got blankie, he can be your friend tonight, okay?
Him: I want a friend with eyes.
[pause]
Me: Well tell daddy to draw eyes on your pillow.
Him: [thinking about it] OKAY! You wanna talk to daddy?

Daddy: So?
Me: Go draw eyes on his pillow

I haven't heard back...yet. If this works, I want an award.

dang

Can't get my hair cut today, because my stylist is booked. Why don't people automatically assume that I'm going to be calling and leave a spot open for me? Doesn't she realize that I am justthisclose to giving myself a trim? I blame her fully if I end up looking goofy.
(Okay, reading this over just now, I want to put a stop to any thoughts you have about writing to tell me that I alreadylook goofy and that it has nothing to do with my hair.)

Started Slow...

But today's looking up. I was very crabby this morning, but I'm better now. The coffee might have helped. I didn't think it would because frankly, it was too strong, but maybe strong coffee was what I needed.

I am still not 100% sure I like the design I did for the BirchBark postcards. I think the logo is too big. Actually, I think the whole thing is too big. I was planning to send them out in envelopes (I bought them) but now I'm sure I'm just going to do a postcard. I don't have postcards stamps, the ones I bought yesterday were regular ones.

Had a phone interview this morning, which is always nice. And I sent two resumes out. I consider it a successful job searching morning, which is the opposite of how I felt two hours ago. Oh, and I cleaned toilets and started on the tub, so if you're keeping score, we can update the Wednesday to-do list to cross off the bathroom stuff. I'll go do that right now.

Should I be worried?

Okay, my state is shown in this image. It's under the green arrow.
It looks to me like a giant purple thingy is going to smack into North America. Panic ensues.

What exactly is that? I guess it's not coming near land, because the local weather report shows sunny 70's for the next few days. (I think that's how the local radio station refers to their playlist.) Odd thing about looking at these radar images...they don't have any kind of key, to tell you what the colors mean. Silly if you ask me. What's the point of showing me a picture of something if you don't explain what I'm looking at?

Isn't this fun

So if you've only got a postcard's worth of space, what's the most important thing to say so that someone will smack hand to forehead and say "Dear God in Heaven, get this gal on the phone PRONTO!"?

The one thing that it driving me BATTY is setting up the printer to print two copies on the same piece of paper. It insists on printing landscape. Every time I think I've swapped it, there it is, printing the wrong way again. Soon, I break some fingers.

It's Wednesday, Right?

I got all confused this morning. But I'm better now. Made a run to Office Max (oh, the agony! Forced to enter an office supply store!) to pick up a paper cutter. You know, like they had in elementary school? Except I just need a small one to cut paper neatly, not the mondo "guillotine for pre-schoolers" style. I'm doing another BirchBark mailing and need to trim the paper a bit. Found one for $10, plus some other stuff. Got some specialty card stock too...I'm about to try it in the inkjet. Some papers just do NOT handle the ink properly, so I'm hoping I didn't just waste 8. If it works, I'll be using this for my postcards. Much cheaper than buying special postcard paper.

Okay, so let's get an updated to do list. Realistically, here's what I want to accomplish today.
1. Buy stamps
2. Design my mailing
3. Print the postcards
4. Determine the target mailing list (40 or so companies)
5. Work on my PHP
6. Update the main Dump
7. Review job websites for new opportunities

You'll notice all the housekeeping stuff is missing this time. I did get the counter pretty clean last night. I think if I want to put on something house-related it will be

8. Clean the bee-spray residue off the siding before it stains (I sprayed a MONSTER nest behind one of my shutters. I watched about 12 wasps stumble out and die)
9. Put one tub of toys in the spare room. (I cleaned out a bunch of stuff for the yard sale, baby toys, etc., so now there's room to put more junk in there.)

That all sounds do-able, right?

Uh oh

Okay, so it's 6:30 and the update is that I didn't get very much done on the list. Actually, I need to update the whole list and add an item 12: Mail bills. Once that's added, I'll cross it off because I did write out some checks and actually get them into the mailbox before the mailman arrived. And #8 is done. So I guess that's the easy stuff crossed off. Tomorrow I'll have a whole new list, I'm sure. Or I'll just repost that one with some new items, including "go to postoffice to check PO Box and buy stamps". I think I'm going to be owing the postal service for another 6 months on the box, and I never even used it. Never got ONE piece of mail that wasn't junk mail or mail meant for the previous owner. *sigh*

11:22 update

Okay, so here's how the day is going...I started to do #1. And for inspiration/research I'm watching a movie written by David Mamet, State and Main. Not only is it about making a movie, but it's dialog-drivin, being by Mamet. Gotta love that. I also did a little of number 3. I'd better get working.

Oh, and my fantasy baseball league? Last place. Yes, that's right. Last place.

Tuesday: Now More Monday-er

The day after a holiday is always weird. My trash went out this morning, which makes if feel like a Monday. Junior's at daycare and I'm sitting here jobhunting and updating my website, which is pretty Monday-ish. Well, it's sort of Monday through Friday-ish but Junior and I just had three swell days in a row together so him being gone is Monday-ish.

I promised myself that I would accomplish at least 3 things today, so I'd better get going. Here's the to-do list.
1. Get all the screenplay currently in my notebook into the screenwriting software.
2. Do at least one more chapter in the PHP book.
3. Clean off the counter...again.
4. Re-caulk the bathtub.
5. Wash the kitchen floor
6. Clean the tub/replace the shower curtain liner
7. Write a short story
8. Find at least 3 places to send my resume
9. Vacuum the bedrooms
10. Mow the lawn.
11. Update the Main Dump
12. Mail Bills

Okay, of that list, I can't mow today, because it's raining. I can do maybe 3 or 4, some of them will take longer than others. And as for the tub, well, if the linoleum is starting to pull up, how is it possible to caulk it and have it stay? I don't really want to re-do the floor up there this week. I wish some guy would show up in my life who liked to do stuff like this for a hobby. He's tile my bathroom to impress me, and when I showed a little bit of interest, he'd tile my kitchen to completely win me over.

Ahhh, BIOS done, and I didn't break anything

Whew! Thanks to some of the help from the HP guy, and my own very smart self, I got the BIOS downloaded and installed. I'd like to say here for the record that if the TWO POOPIE HEADS from last week hadn't told me to do thing A and thing B I would have probably done it last week. I went and changed things back in my software and all my problems went away. Grrrrr. So enough about that, let's hope they don't update anything else.

More Support Chat

I'm back on the HP support chat line. New person. I had my head explode when I went to the page they had me bookmark (keeping track of my help request) and THEY closed the request because I hadn't posted anything for two days. See the thing is, THEY hadn't posted anything for FOUR days. I was waiting for THEM to reply, and instead of replying they closed the request. I cannot express to you how much this just pissed me off.

Hey, Who Are You?

Just got notification today that some kind soul used the Amazon.com paybox to donate to the Dump, but I have no way of knowing who it was. So Mr./Ms. Anonymous, THANK YOU!

(Now why don't you want me to know who you are? Ok, I'll just pretend it was Ben Affleck. Thanks Ben, you're a sweetie!)

Whew!

I am just so DONE with the yardsale. Yes, I made some money, of course, it was like maybe 3% of the original retail value of the stuff sold, but better than throwing it away. I don't see myself having that quality or quantity of stuff for sale again for quite a while. I didn't sell the lawnmower, and I blame the local paper. My mom had a yard sale ad form, and we filled it out, making sure to specify that we had baby stuff and a lawnmower. I figured maybe we'd get someone who was specifically looking for one to stop by. When she got to the paper's office they said they'd changed things and you only get 12 WORDS for a yard sale ad, and you need to include your address in there. Stupid. So turns out the ad didn't actually mention the mower. And I still have it.