*Big DumpTruck*

D'oh!

Note to self: If you're going to buy an electric lawnmower, you need to charge the sucker up after it's been sitting in the shed all winter. That is, if you intend to mow the lawn. If you don't want to mow the lawn, just forget to do it.

Hello!

Hello everyone, how are you doing? Fine? That's super! Had a nice relaxing day away from the computer. You know, because I'm "working at home" and jobhunting and keeping up with this site and email, I'm on the computer a LOT. Every day. So today was "get the hell away from the computer" day. It seems to have worked out well, although I have a crapload of mail to wade through. It's not going to be pretty next week when I'm on vacation (i.e. computer-free) for 6 days.

So far I have someone who will do updates for two of the days, and I'm going to see if I can do email via my cell phone for the other 3. Or maybe I'll just let you all suffer, so that you'll really appreciate me when I get back.

Oh, this was in the news as an update to the cat lady story: " The tenant is now responding to the charges and she said what inspectional services saw were only three dead cats and 150 pounds of beef kidneys." Oh RIGHT. They couldn't tell the difference. And the feces came from where? And the fact it was so bad that it was condemned? Where was she storing the 150 pounds of beef kidneys, in the living room?

The Big DumpTruck

I was reading more about that horrendous story about the cat breeder on Beacon Hill whose apartment was filled with 60 dead cats. Turns out this isn't the first time she's the cause of an apartment being condemned from feces, etc.

Then I looked her up on google, and while her site has been pulled down, you can look at a cache of it. This is what Heidi The Dead Cat Lady had to say about her business (emphasis is mine).

"Silver Circle Persians is a non-profit organization. Cat breeding is a serious hobby, and is not considered a business endeavour. Jay and Heidi's compassion and combined effort make this cattery a reality. Jay Murthy is a Howard Hughes Fellow in Genetics (Molecular Biology) at Harvard University, Jay's goal is to work on cutting edge research in Human Genetics, pharmacology and teach. Heidi Erickson is a third generation Persian breeder, student of law and is employed as a legal administrator on Beacon Hill, Heidi formerly progressed the research into the genetics of behavior under Dr.s Jerome Kagan and Evan Balaban of Harvard University, and cancer regression under Nobel-Laureate Dr. Charles Huggins, University of Chicago, Ben May Cancer Research Institute. Heidi's goal is to promote the medical uses of animal therapists especially cats as a aid to the improvement of medical conditions and to relieve the burden of illness.
Jay and Heidi are both co-owners of most of the cats bred, shown or owned by Silver Circle and their endeavors include investigation into the genetic relationships of behavior and expression of blue-eye with white coat including the phenomenon of deafness in the Persian. Through their combined effort they maintain the genetic integrity and sweetness of the kittens they produce while they further promote responsible breeding among breeders and lobby for the use of companion felines for the improvement of human health. All the while they love and nurture their beloved cats.

Gah.

Ghost in The Machine

Boy, there's nothing freakier than an unexpected noise when you're alone in the house. I'm talking about the ghost in the toy room that decided to make my son's toy cell phone ring. As I said in an email to some friends, "Should I answer it?"

Now Junior uses this phone to call "his boss" who he pretends is asking him to do work stuff, etc. You know, imitating daddy. So of course his dad replied to my email and said "You should answer it...maybe Junior's boss is going to offer you a job!"

Ahhh, I would but I don't want to get paid in invisible money. (Is there enough invisible stuff in my life already? Although my invisible daughter-in-law Julia has been strangely silent the past couple of weeks.)

Why? Just Why?

And the winner of the "I don't understand you people" award is the person who ended up here by doing an AOL search on "scott peterson underwear". As in "boxers or briefs"? I have no idea. This is the wrong place for this kind of search, regardless of this site's placement on your results page. Really. You can go now.

Yo Ho Ho and a Cup of Jo

Can someone please explain to me why I have songs from the Grease soundtrack stuck in my head? Specifically "You're the One That I Want". I don't get it.

Another "corker of a day" as Junior's daycare lady says. It's that time of year where I have to send him with a suitcase full of clothes. He starts off with a jacket, long pants and sneakers, but in his bag I have to put shorts and sandels. She doesn't want me to just leave stuff there, so I have to do this daily. It's not so bad, it just puts the pressure on me not to forget something or he'll be stuck with the wrong clothes later in the day.

Kudos to the little bird that was on the railing when I pulled in the driveway this morning. He flew at the back door and I freaked out that he was trying to commit suicide by smashing into the glass, but it turns out he was ridding my entryway of all forms of bugs and moths that gathered there last night. I saw him fly off with a moth in his mouth - and I saw that moth stuck in the corner of the glass when I left this morning. He can come back ANY time to do that cleanup, I hate when there are bugs all over the place.

They Grow Up So Fast

Junior said his first swear today! My gosh, we thought he'd never get a potty mouth! I mean, you hope that they'll be precocious and making sailors blush before they get out of diapers, but sometimes they just frustrate you and make you wait. So yes, he's five and a half, and the magic word is....hell. I know, I'm disappointed that it wasn't something more inflammatory, but I guess there's time for us to work on it.

So he asked me what the hell I was doing, and of course asked at my mom's house, in front of her. Mom of course immediately states that he didn't get that from HER house...and within an hour my father has used that very word at LEAST two times. When he's in a car, driving or not, he pulls out all the stops. (Ya, I'm talking about YOU dad!)

I think I did a decent job of not making a big deal out of it, so maybe he got the point he shouldn't use that word, not even when he's trying to annoy me.

She's Right...He's Getting Married!

Anthony Wiggle Field is marrying a Greek woman named Michaela. I declare today a day of mourning. Or at least of afternooning.

Snacking

Mmmmmm. Tostitos Party Bowl.

Oh, and can I just say that I was looking out the window a few minutes ago and I realized I'm actually going to have to mow the lawn this week? Yeesh, I guess there is no rest for the wicked. Or me. (bwa ha ha ha).

I'm thinking of popping in an MST3K movie...which one will it be?

Devo

Junior was watching the Powerpuff Girls this morning and after the episode there was a music video - Devo doing "Go Monkey Go". I know Mark Mothersbaugh is like the king of movie and cartoon scores (see: Rugrats and Rocket Power, to name two) but does Devo still exist as a group?

Hey, here's a whole article about music in cartoon. Way excellent stuff. Actually most everything they've mention (specifically the work in Spongebob and The Fairly Oddparents) is GREAT stuff.

Why Aren't You People Buying My Stock?

Aren't you guys playing the Blogshares game? You know it's just a game, right? You don't use real money at all. The game is being reset on May 1st, and I certainly hope I can get more than 3 people interested in buying my stock by then! Sheesh.

Oh, and it's another sweatshirt day. Hoo boy, what fun weather we've had this spring. High only in the 40s? Ya baby. Maybe I could start a fire (in the fireplace, silly) and burn up some of the leftover wood I've got from the winter. I started off fine in the fire building department and then after a while we just stopped having them. Today really feels like that kind of day. The only thing killing the somber mood is the florescent pink towel I accidently left hanging out on the deck yesterday. A spot of summer on a very grey day.

Victoria Beckham Dispells Disorder Rumors

So I'm reading this article about Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham denying rumors that she has or has had an eating disorder and while I personally think she looks like a Q-Tip, I have to take exception to the following quote in the article.
"I mean, I was never anorexic, I was never bulimic, but I was probably very close to it."

Um, Victoria, I don't know how to break it to you, but this is like being a little pregnant. You are or you aren't. You either throw up after you eat or you don't. And if you want to throw up after you eat, but somehow stop yourself, you still have a problem. Got it? Good. Now go eat a meal, would you? I might actually have to watch the interview on 20/20 tonight.

(Oh, and a funny thing - when reading this article the ad at the top of the screen was for the movie "Bend it Like Beckham". Heh.)

I Think This is All We Get

Today is apparently the only good day this week, so rather than sit inside looking through the windows, I'm unplugging the laptop to go enjoy the nice day. I want you kids to play nicely together. No fighting or I'll send you to your rooms.

Tomorrow we're back to 45 degrees and raining. Yea!

Chocolate Stuff

If you've read any of the Sweet Potato Queens' books you'll know what I'm talking about when I say I made "chocolate stuff" tonight. I do believe I'm going to go into a diabetic coma now. Rich isn't even a strong enough word to refer to this particular dessert-type food. I needed two glasses of milk to go with it. It reminds me of a cross between fudge and a brownie. Sort of like making brownies with very little flour. It tastes great, but whoooooooooooo.

I read that they're making a sitcom based on the books. I'll tune in, but I'm wondering if some of the charm will be lost on television.

Rental Season is Over

They are done fixing my car, so I have to go give the rental back. It was a 2003 Saturn L200, and it was just nice to drive a new car. Nothing rattley, everything electric. You know, nice. Not that I'm knocking the 11 year old Nissan, it's just that it's not new and sometimes it's really fun to have that. On the other hand, this thing sucked down MORE gas in three days. I swear, half a tank and I only drove it around town. Like MAYBE 25 or 30 miles, if that. Let that be a warning if you're shopping for a Saturn, kids.

The Iraqi Information Minister

Hey kids, I designed my own Iraqi Information Minister press conference. Some of these are actually very very funny. But you have to visit mine so that it gets into the top 50. And if you make one, post the link here.

Importance? Eh.

I lost a point in my Google Page Ranking. I guess the 6/10 was too good to last. I'm not sure what I did to get knocked down a point, but now I know how that chef felt when he lost a star rating on his restaurant and committed suicide. I think I've maintained the same level of "whatever" for several months. So why drop me back to 5/10? Huh? Huh?

Don't worry, I'm not going to commit suicide. Maybe if I was making a living running this site I'd at least consider it, but I cannot let the perceived quality of my hobby destroy my life. At least not until the weekend.

Which reminds me. I've got a small vacation coming up in May. I don't think I'm going to have any way to update the site. I'd be willing to let someone be the guest host for that time period, if they promise they'll stop by and not post foul language and pictures of naked people. (Aha! That ought to perk up Google's ears!)

I Need a Couple of Extra Hours

This day is going by WAY too quickly. Can someone loan me a couple of hours? Thanks.

utter wonder

Did you ever read something on the web and think to yourself "I wish I was on the Nobel Prize committee because if I was I'd give this guy a medal and some cash for sure"? I did that today. C Monks wrote an entry that I'd love to steal and say I wrote. But that would be bad, and then he'd get angry and start writing about me instead of hyperdoughnuts, Tariq Aziz's birthday check and how Scott Peterson is such a dunderhead (my word) that he wouldn't even stand a chance against a dead Angela Lansbury. So go read, and tell him I sent you. Just make sure you spell my name right.

Sentinel & Enterprise Online - Letters to the Editor

Not only did they include my letter to the editor today, part of it appears on the paper's home page.

I think they liked my Punch and Judy line. That's what they used as a head on the home page in for the letter.

To Do List

What I Need to Do Today

Drop off games at Blockbuster before noon.

drop off paperwork at car rental agency

finish the files for the Daily Probe

finish my project work (HA!)

other stuff.

What I've done so far today:

cleaned the toilet

had two cups of coffee

read the job listings at Monster.com

worked on the Daily Probe files

worked on my project files

Oh, Right, You Guys Have to Work Today

Goofily, I contacted someone in New York today and asked if she had to work. Duh. Patriot's Day is a Massachusetts holiday, and it's actually more of a Boston holiday. All the state government offices are closed, which stinks if you want to go to the library. But the stores are open and I'm guessing 70% of the local companies don't get the day off. Companies in on the Boston Marathon path are more likely to have the day off. I can definitely see this holiday sort of falling off the map in a year or two.

I dropped off the Maxima at the garage for repairs from the YMCA accident. Finally. I got a rental car, a Saturn L200. It seems nice. We used to own a Saturn LS (or LS2?) which I guess is the model that became the L200. However, this one seems nicer than our old one. It certainly looks very very schnazzy.

Got a call from the local paper today, verifying that I did indeed write a letter to the editor last week. I did. Of course, now I'm wondering if I want my letter published. I was kind of angry when I wrote it. While I had them on the phone I should have asked them how to spell "recuperate". When I got an email with the headlines, it was spelled "recooperate." D'oh!

Scott Peterson

Ya, I know, I'm an armchair detective. I form opinions based on what I'm fed by the media. And I have been suspicious of Scott Peterson since he sold his wife's car. You don't do that if you think she might be coming home. You don't put your house on the market if you hope your infant son will get to use the nursery you decorated.

And in the TV-movie, Dean Cain can play the December version of Scott. Now with his dyed hair, beard and mustache, we'll go for Ben Afleck to play the April version.

And We're Back

Apparently someone blew a fuse at my hosting company, and the BDT was down for a bit. I had to call them to let them know, apparently it wasn't something they were aware of. Great, I'm having a steller traffic day and my site is unavailable for almost 2 hours. *sigh*

p.s. Get these chocolate eggs away from me.

First Sunburn of the Year

I spent way too much time outside with way too little sunblock. Thank God it's still really early in the season or I'd be in the hospital by now. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. I was outside at my parents' house playing with kites, punching balls and a frisbee, and then we moved to Coolidge Park in Fitchburg where we played Wiffle ball and used our rubber boots to investigate the "stream".

Let me point out that it's spring, and it's a wet spring, and the stream was closer to a river. Yes, one child went face-first into the water and no, it wasn't mine. Whew! Junior did have to ride home in his underwear, because some water did splash onto his pants over the top of the boots. But you know those scenes in movies where someone takes off a shoe and pours water out? That was my nephew. It looked just like it does on TV!

Big DumpTruck Stock Sold Out!

Wow, BDT stock is all sold out! If you want to buy some and there is none available, put in a buy order and I'll sell you some of mine. I will try to keep putting small amounts out for general consumption, but be aware, we are getting popular and right now the going price is almost 80 cents a share! Wooooooo!

Happy Heaster

{cue birds}

Hey, Happy Easter everyone. The birds are singing, the dogs are barking, and all the plastic eggs have been found. Junior has a hard time finding the obvious ones, then never believes me when I try to tell him that the The Bunny wouldn't hide Easter Eggs in the trash. ("No dear, that's where he hides the packaging...")

So I still haven't taken a shower, I really need to do that. Talked to mom this morning and she told me that she forgot to give me some rabbit turds to use to show that the Easter Bunny had really been to the house. Um, no. My house is messy enough without adding feces into the mix, thankyouverymuch. We are a feces-free environment.

You know what would be cool, though, is if we saw Brown Bunny (our local wild rabbit who lives, or at least used to live, somewhere in the woods behind the house). I mean, how awesome would it be to see a real rabbit in your yard on Easter morning?

I'm LISTED!

You can buy stock in me now!!!! Use the link at the top of the right column or the words above!

Blind Me With Science

Off to the Science Museum today. I hope to learn at least one new thing, if only how much it costs to park. Looks like the weather will be perfect for a nice stroll, too. If we're lucky, I will have no "adventures" to talk about when I get back.

Hoppy Easter

And Happy Passover, if happy is the right word to use. I suppose not having your firstborn son killed would be a happy thing, right?

Try not to eat too many jelly beans or malted milk eggs before breakfast this year, you hear? And don't forget, for you young ladies in the audience, if you wet those eggs, the pink ones can be used for lipstick. Well, the other colors can too, but i don't know if yellow is in this year.

Socks

You know how kids are famous for leaving things everywhere and anywhere? Well with my kid, it's socks. They end up everywhere. Every day I rant at him about the sock issue, and every day, I find another sock in a place it shouldn't be. I mention this because I just looked across the table...and there are two socks on it. Yuck. And there's one on the floor under the table that he was supposed to pick up last night. His invisible wife Julia should be the one dealing with his laundry, not me. But she's a little too invisible.

Today, I am Somebody

Hi everyone! I'm seeing a lot of new faces today, and that might be because blogdex - the weblog diffusion index thinks I'm thumbody thpecial. I don't exactly know how this worked out, but I'm on the second page there, apparently tied for 62nd place. 62nd place for people who link to me? I don't know, I'm thinking something happened to their spider bot because really, am I in the top 100 of anything on the web?

I'm still waiting for the spiders on Blogshares to get me straightened out so you can buy [fake] shares in the Big DumpTruck. I was de-listed when they merged my URLs and I haven't been relisted yet. Worst case, on May 1st when they go live it will happen. I'll link to the page for you when it happens.

Lessee, what else? Oh, we postponed the Boston trip and yes, it's bright and sunny. Not only is it not raining, there isn't a cloud in the sky. It's bitter cold out there, but sunny, and if the wind stops, it feels pretty nice.

Philip Greenspun Explains Airplane Crashes

The initial NTSB report on "our" plane crash came out today, and Philip Greenspun does an excellent job translating it into English. So it looks less like icing (which the plane was made to handle) and more like pilot error - the plane was going too slow and he was turning too hard. Sad sad sad.

(Can I just interject and say that I've owned a copy of Philip's book Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing since it came out? I can? Thanks.)

The Thursday Weather Pool

Okay, this morning they said 40 and partly cloudy. Let's look at this exact moment. Yup, still says 42. Oh, and Leominster's high for today was supposed to be almost 90. Talk about going from winter to summer with no spring in between! I guess tomorrow will slap us back into reality, though.


And this was on Boston.com:
"Weather: Boston basked in record warmth today, with a new high of 84 degrees set at 2 p.m. at Logan Airport. The previous record high for this date was 82, set in 1976. Things are about to change dramatically, however. Temperatures will plummet into the 30s tonight with clouds and showers moving in. "

Ya baby! That's a 50 degree difference in ONE DAY!!!!

Mister Golden Sun

Please forgive me if I don't have a lot to say this week...the weather has been the stuff of dreams and I've been trying to do work and yet not be tethered to the house. So sometimes that means I pack up the computer and take it outside. I love having a laptop. Wooooo!

I spent part of the morning trying on summer clothes from about two years ago (last year's stuff doesn't fit very well.) I think I've salvaged enough stuff to get me started, anyway.

So I've got sandels on, and I feel like a million bucks!

"Avoid Sitting"

I'm having a minor health issue which is a result of a side effect of medication I'm on. (Got that? Good.) I won't name here but I'll hint that "Tucks" are made to deal with it. Today I called the Dr.'s office because I wanted to know if a)he has the definitive solution/medication for the problem, or b)he wants to see me. When the nurse called back with his response, it was basically, eat roughage, drink more water, don't strain, and avoid sitting. (My emphasis)

How on earth do you avoid sitting? I mean seriously, how can that even be a suggestion? I can do all the others. Those are easy. But avoid sitting? How am I going to get my work done? How will I watch TV? How will I drive to my endocrinologist appointment this afternoon?

Rain or Not Pt. 2

Today's forecast for Thursday is.....scattered flurries! Well I didn't even have that option listed in the pool!

I'm telling you, by Monday or Tuesday they should have that locked in, don't you think?

So, Rain or Not?

When I wrote this morning's entry, the prediction was for rain on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Right now they're saying some showers Wedneday, then no rain on Thursday and Friday, although the temps will still be pretty low.

So let's start a pool. Rain or no rain on Thursday?

Why are Weather Predictions so Flaky?

Late last week (either Friday or Saturday) we started to plan a day in Boston with Junior. We don't go often enough, and because his dad is actually HOME from his extended business trip(s) to England, he was going to take a day off this week to make the trip.

So we looked over weather reports and determined that Thursday would be a better day than Friday, because it would be sunny and in the 50's. Not as warm as Wednesday, which was supposed to push 80.

Today, I look at the weather on the same website, and not only are they saying it's going to rain on Thursday, but the high will only be thirty-seven degrees. What the hell? And now they're saying rain on Wednesday and the 80 degree day will be Tuesday. HOW can it change THAT MUCH in two days? I read about weather modelling, and how accurate it is, actually quite far in advance. I'm telling you, I don't trust them to get tomorrow right anymore. And yes, normally I use Yahoo for my weather because it's fed from weather.com, but I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, they have hired monkeys to throw darts at a weather dartboard. This is ridiculous.

Flavor of the Day

I treated myself to the Bagel Inn this morning...I got a bagel and a cup of coffee to go. They didn't have any of my favorite flavored coffees today so I went out on a limb and chose "mudslide". It's not going to kill me, but someone needs to explain to me why they think this tastes like a mudslide, my favorite alcoholic drink ever. I mean really, you're kidding yourself if you think coffee flavoring product can simulate the creamy goodness of a real mudslide.

I think my day would be a LOT more interesting if I started it with a frozen mudslide, don't you? Of course, my family would put my directly into rehab, but still.

===

In other news, wait, what was I going to say? I can't remember. Maybe this IS a real mudslide! Woooooooo! Anyway, I think I'll mail my state taxes out today. I got a refund from Federal, but owe $250 to state. It's odd, I know there are ways to play with your Federal withholdings so that you don't end up paying, but I don't think there is any way to do that with State, is there? Oh well, I'm just glad I remembered that I have to mail it.

===

I swear, there was something else I was going to say, but it's just lost forever.

The Poop Will Hit the Fan

We've been playing this GameCube game we rented from Blockbuster all week. We've made progress, but we aren't close to being done. The problem? It's due back by noon tomorrow. That stinks, actually, but I know we only rented, we didn't buy. How long after you return something can you take it out again? Ad do I want to? Ya, I do. We're enjoying this game. It's Spongebob Squarepants and the Revenge of the Flying Dutchman. It's easy in some places and hard in others and some of it is just annoying enough that you're willing to spend 2 hours trying to figure out HOW to get from point A to point B. I think Junior will mourn deeply if we bring it back and he never gets to finish the game. It's driving him crazy that we don't yet have the reef blower so we can't finish the downtown section of the game.

Went to the Berlin Orchards Easter Egg Hunt today. I know my Dad reads this so I'll try to be nice, but next year, I think we should let the kid try to find the candy all by himself. The challenge was definitely removed by having three adults helping. Actually, it's not that things were hidden so much as you went looking for the candy YOU specifically liked. It was $2 per kid, and they were allowed 15 pieces of candy each. Junior is big enough for the big-kid's field, and basically they threw candy all over the ground. I know I personally walked on at least 5 Jolly Ranchers because we didn't see them. Junior doesn't like candy except for jelly beans and lollipops, and they didn't have lollipops in the big kid section. So we hunted for little baggies with 4-5 jelly beans in them. It was actually really well-done, and I'm glad we went.

Commenting Still Not Working

Commenting is flakey today. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I am aware of the problem. And my email is questionable. I may have to remove some graphics files from the server (temporarily) to fix this problem. I'm an unhappy girl. Will let you know when it's back. As soon as I change hosting companies this problem will disappear.

My Invisible Daughter-in-Law Update

Julia, my invisible daughter-in-law, hasn't been making many appearances. I have to admit I kind of forgot about her. But last night, Junior approached the coach and said

"I can't find them! I can't find my kids! I was supposed to only get one, but he game me two!"
"Two what?"
"Two babies. Julia and I have two babies now."
"Who gave them to you?"
"Joe. He's the guy who gives out the babies. And he gave us two but I can't find them."
"Well, you'd better get looking because I don't want strange kids running around my house. If you are going to have kids, you have to be responsible for them. You need to keep an eye on them."
"They're a boy and a girl. The boy is named Jonah, and the girl is...the girl is named Jody! I'll go check my room. Maybe they are up there."

Damn. A grandmother and I'm not even 40.

What I'm Listening To

I've had a CD in my cart at Amazon for about two months now. Just waiting for the right moment to order it. Well today we were killing a little time at the mall and I went into one of the music stores, you know, the kind where you have to sell a limb to buy something, just to browse their cheapo bins, and I happened to wander back into the "good" section. I decided to see if they had the CD...and they did....and it was the same price as on Amazon. This never happens. You all know that. So I had to buy it because it was a sign from God, right?

ELO - Definitive Collection. And it is definitive. Man, I am loving this 2-cd set, and it was less than $18!!

Oh, and someone asked what book it is that I'm reading (I mentioned it in the novel blog). It's called The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer.

Piglet's Big Movie

So cute! I would have preferred to see something maybe for adults, but this was a perfectly wonderful little movie for Junior. We had to run out and buy the Carly Simon soundtrack right away, too.

I will tell you I'm not looking forward to seeing the third Rugrats movie, which is due out this summer. First of all, it's a cross-over between the Wild Thornberries and the Rugrats shows, but then they are destroying all that is right with the Rugrats world by having Spike speak. And his voice is Bruce Willis. It's going to be Look Who's Talking 3. I'm not happy.

Anyone with a Google Connection?

Google keeps advertising a position that I'm interested in...I just wish I knew someone who worked there. I know I could suck up to the blogger.com folks who just became Google employees, but they probably don't have much pull in the HR department as of yet. So if you work there, or know someone who does, let me know, okay?

Added shortly after: Oh man, just read an article that they get 1500 resumes a DAY. I realize they posted for the one I want, but still. I'll just be sitting quietly over here looking for a DIFFERENT company to apply to.

Sox Home Opener

It hasn't started raining here yet, so I guess the game is on. Do I think they'll win? No I do not. Someone had better do something about that bullpen and FAST.

What's On TV?

I have no idea what's on TV these days. If you had told me 5 years ago that I would be saying that, I would have laughed heartily in your face and then had you committed. But here we are and I only watch the Disney Channel(s), Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. That's it. I record "grown-up shows" on the TiVo and never watch them. What happened to me?

I know, that stuff rots your brain. So do most websites. I still visit them.

Missing Piece of Paper

Did anyone see a piece of paper that I was just working with? I cannot find it anywhere. Do you think I could possibly keep track of things from one minute to the next? Is that so hard?

I Lost a Day

This is Thursday, right? I thought it was Wednesday. That's one whole less day this week than I thought I had. Not good. I'm doing some work for a friend of mine that is taking longer than I'd anticipated, and losing a whole day is NOT COOL.

So anyway, I am very happy to have this work to do...it's just that I need all the days I can get before the end of the month!

Terrorists and Other Annoyances

I was reading the Worcester Telegram today and in an article about the plane crash, apparently our local city hall received a whole bunch of phone calls, including one from the federal Department of Homeland Security asking if this might be a terrorist act.

I swear to God, this had never occurred to me. I suppose that's because so many planes have crashed taking off or landing at the Fitchburg Airport. But still, getting that call must have freaked out the guy taking the calls. The article also said that a London TV network called asking the same question, and the Japanese Embassy in Boston called to find out if any Japanese people were involved.

So maybe that's a good thing, that terrorism wasn't the first thing that came to mind when my neighbors told me it was a plane crash. I mean, I can't think of anything you could run a plane into in town that would have the impact of ramming a jet into the World Trade Center. Certainly not a small metal shop with only 7 employees.

p.s. It looks like winter all over again out there. Let's go on warming up enough to melt the snow. Again.

Bazeball

Wow, I'm having a flashback to last spring. My 2002 fantasy baseball team, the Boston Big Babies held first place for almost two months. Jump ahead to today, and my team, the Ramp Rabbits, are in first place.


This is my third year playing with the same group of people in this fantasy baseball league (on Yahoo) and I understand it more and more each year. I don't know that I'll stay on top (I said that last year and I was right) but it's fun right now, seeing as how I totally blew it with fantasy football and basketball. I guess baseball is my sport.

Oh, and ramp rabbits? It's a reference to roadkill made up by two DJs from Hartford back when I was in college, Rick and Suds, on WCCC. I think it was Rick and Suds. It's been a while.

Panpakes

That's how junior said "Pancakes" for years. Some of the waitresses at our Sunday breakfast place still pronounce it, although now he corrects them. So sad when they grow up and get all smart and stuff. Another one he said when he was just starting to talk was "Mewskit" for music. Awwwwwww, my baby!

Okay, enough of that. It is more fun having a big boy. We have lots of lovely conversations, and he's more of a companion now. It's actually fun to be places with him. He was such a crabby baby and toddler when we went places. He hated riding in a stroller. Never liked it. Leave it to me to have an abnormal kid.

More Saddam Friday Five

Mister Crunchy gives us another list of Saddam answering the Friday Five questions. Love it. I like picturing Saddam in a Power Yoga class.


Oh, and for some reason (maybe the facial hair?) that reminds me. There's a guy from this town, and if you're from here you probably know who I mean but I'm not going to go into too many details because I strive to be a really nice person. Just in case he reads this website. Anyway, he was flitting around outside of Shaws this morning as I was pushing my cart (wait, wasn't I just going in for 1/2 and 1/2 and bread?) and I was overcome with the urge to say to him "Wow, way to push the fashion bar up a notch by continuing to sport muttonchops after all these years."

Yahoo! Weather - Leominster

Yahoo! Weather - Leominster

202 AM EDT MON APR 7 2003

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY TUESDAY MORNING...

A LATE SEASON SNOWSTORM IS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL LAST THROUGH TONIGHT. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS NORTHWEST MASSACHUSETTS BETWEEN 1 PM AND 3 PM. THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL RATES WILL OCCUR DURING THE EVENING COMMUTE. TWO TO THREE INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED TO ACCUMULATE BY THE END OF THE COMMUTE. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES. THE UPPER PORTION OF THIS ACCUMULATION RANGE IS EXPECTED OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN AND APPROACHING THE MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE.

Spam 'n Eggs

Started the day with reading the following in a spam email (I normally don't read them, I use MailWasher, but I don't yet have to wash my business email, as I only get one or two a day (so far).

Here's what made my day: "Stop being furious, check out this website and the Rx’s we have. The best prices on the internet. Next day delivery for Valium."

I think they are so right. I need to stop being furious. It's just not getting me anywhere. I'm not sure how they knew I was so furious all the time, I mean, I wasn't even aware of it until they pointed it out. But now I'm going to take their advice and simply stop being furious. And consider Valium.

No One Screams for Ice Cream

Usually by now the ice cream stands are starting to open for the summer, and we all flock for our first taste of Moose Track for the season. Except nobody wants to buy ice cream when the wind chill makes it feel like 28 degrees. Which is what today was like. Is this April? No really? Is it?

Went to a farm stand today to see if they were making maple syrup, and it was a little late by the time we got there. This place has a lot of animals, but it was too danged cold to stay outside and enjoy them. I actually keep forgetting that this isn't normal. I'm sure this is screwing up all the farms around here - I hope there will be strawberries when there are supposed to be strawberries, that's all I can say.

Ahhhhhhh!

Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun
Please Shine Down on Me!

Off to scrape two inches of stuff off the car. Wish me luck!

Was that...

THUNDER?

Oh yes, and followed by hail! Good show!

Aw man, I'm really ticked!

So I'm doing the Blogshares game with this site, we were listed, people were investing in it (with pretend $$) and suddenly the owner of the game sold off all my stock because he was combining to of my URLs. Except now you can't by shares of my site, and I'm sure all my old investors have just spent their money on other stuff.

Not fair!

Okay, I just read on the message boards that it's a known bug. Gee, thanks. Oh well, maybe they'll get it fixed soon, and you guys can re-purchase your bigdumptruck stock. *sigh*

Leominster on CNN

A friend of mine who lives in the midwest sent me an email telling me she saw Leominster mentioned on CNN while she was waiting in a sub shop. I have heard from a couple of people via email wondering if it was near my house.

I'm happy to receive those notes. It makes me feel all warm inside that people are concerned about my health and well-being.

If we could just get rid of the NEW coating of snow and ice that arrived last night, I'd be just fine, thank you.

Road Opened

Sometime between 6:30 and 7:30 they opened up Nashua Street. I just drove by (in the freezing rain. We are idiots) with my parents and you couldn't see the plane. I don't know if that means they moved it, or if it means it crashed in the back of the building. I believe it might be the latter. I did notice that the doors were all blown out in the building, another reason the cops are still there. It's all taped off as well.

They are saying the only person who survived is a 13 year old girl. She and her parents were flying up for the day to check out the private school she was thinking of attending. I can't even imagine the horror this little girl is going through right now.

And still more...

I saw a still photo that made me think the nose of the plane was headed towards my neighborhood, which is the normal landing path, they come in from that direction and then turn left to approach the airport. They are generally going over my house right after they turn left. So yes, a few seconds longer in the air and there could have been some serious ugliness in my neighborhood.

They are now saying 5 people were killed, two survived. Sadly, it looks as if the parents of the woman who walked away from the crash probably didn't make it.

the view from neighbor's yard

They are saying 5 people died in the crash. So horrible.

Here is what I saw standing at the fence in my neighbor's backyard. The people standing there are blocked by police tape. They are standing on an embankment up from the railroad tracks. If I'm not mistaken, based on another photo I have that's not as good, the plane is actually just on the other side of the man standing to the far right. We couldn't get any closer because there is a chainlink fence to keep people off the tracks. I assume the people you see here walked from buildings beside the crash site. I think I also saw someone who worked for the railroad. They need to determine when they trains can start running back through there again, and make sure the explosion and fire didn't disturb the tracks. You know, little things.

The white stuff in the foreground is all the sleet/hail from last night. It looks like snow but it's all little ice balls.

more news links

I was right...it was landing. (I say that because when that plane takes off you know it. You can hear it coming. If my neighbors didn't hear the plane before the crash it had to be coming in. Normal flight path? Directly over my house.

http://www.whdh.com/news/articles/local/A11292/

Yes, I live a few hundred yards away from the Plane Crash in Leominster

If you've been following the news and saw that there was a plane crash in Leominster I just wanted to tell you that we're okay, and that it crashed behind my neighborhood. As in we walked to the far end of my neighbor Amanda's yard, and you could see the flames on the other side of the commuter rail tracks. I couldn't see the plane, but could see the police line tape and the water coming out of the hoses. THAT is how close this was to my house.

Just got in from talking to the neighbors who live closest to the site and they all heard it (we were coming home from swim lessons and as we approached our neighborhood all I could see was billowing smoke. VERY disconcerting. )

If it was the plane I think it was, we hear it all the time, it's a little commuter Jet (I'm not sure that was the plane, but they did say it was 6-passenger.) I tried to take pictures but I don't think any came out. It's drizzling freezing rain (the reason for the crash, I believe) and everything was on the far side of a little rise. If a photo came out, I'll post it.

news story

Random Thoughts

When you call in for a refill of a prescription, make a note of the location of the pharmacy before you head out to pick it up. D'oh! At least the pharmacist at the first place I visited thought it was amusing.

Junior has been watching TV shows from my childhood. This is good and bad. He has my DNA already, do I really want to expose him to the same things that made me the person I am today? He spent two hours running around here tonight without a shirt on, being "Uh Oh Chango" from Danger Island. Yes, I've been Tivo-ing the Banana Splits. Why do you ask?

AT&T Wireless customer service people totally rock. I talked to one last night and one this evening and both calls were fun. And the last time I changed my phone (a year or so ago) I had a fantastic person as well. There is no sarcasm at all in this comment. In fact, the woman I was talking to tonight and I came up with this REALLY funny promotional idea that I have submitted to the Daily Probe staff for fleshing out as a fake ad. THAT is how fun the call was.

The "My Scene" Barbie Dolls have two male dolls, and they are named "Hudson" and "Bryant." No, really. I'm thinking they needed to give Barbie some gay friends with whom to go clubbing. That is the only reason I can come up with for the names Hudson and Bryant.

I'd better get some sleep tonight. I had a phone interview today and I should have told the person who called that I only got 30 minutes of sleep last night due to rodent pole-vaulting, but I didn't get a chance. I think I would have scored pretty high if he knew that I was that fantastic AND beyond tired. See, my brain never sleeps!

Are You Playing Blogshares?

If so, why haven't you bought any stock in this site? Don't you think I want to be seen as big and important? Heck, I think shares are only 3 cents each (it's a game, this isn't real money). Go on, sign up, and make me proud!

Parsing error fixed

Okay, I don't know why it was an error but it was and it's fixed. I like the old "well, you don't need this anyway so we'll just delete it" solution to error-fixing. Dave from Davezilla can visit here safe in the knowledge that it is fixed. Taa-daa!

Dang. Not yet.

Okay, maybe now. Well, if not, I'll have to look at it later.

Oh man, I am running on 1 cylinder today. I don't even know how to spell the word. In the Mousetrix Redux, something "mouse-like" ended up trapped in the wall between my bedroom and the bathroom. It sounded to be the size of a squirrel, but I'm sure that was just acoustics. The bugger spent the whole night, and I do mean the whole night, trying to escape. He would be flung back down against the wall or into the pipes, because you see, this is the wall were the sink and toilet pipes are. There was not a THING I could do to drown out all the thumping and banging sounds this damned creature made last night. It finally got quiet around 6:15 am, which is, of course, when it's time to wake up. I was ready to rip the drywall down with my bare hands and squeeze the life out of the little beast, but I was too tired to make myself move.

Actually, I think I can hear it banging around even now. So pleasant. The call is in to my mouse guy. I cannot do anything about a mouse trapped in a wall. And yes, I know if I don't do anything, it will soon die and the problem will be solved, but I need to deal with the fact that he might not be the only one up there. Again.

Steve is Cool

Thanks to S.G. at http://www.staceygeorge.com/blog/index.php for pointing me to Steve's Web Page: The Main Central Page With All the Doings. If you thought Steve Burns from Blues Clues was lame, go to his page and see how wrong you were.

Funny Stuff

It looks like Davezilla.com is back online, and just in time with a really funny "terror alert" chart.

That Other Jodi is So Right!

I was over at jodiverse.com reading Flip Flop Flap and I'm so glad she took on this tough subject. I don't understand the draw of flip flops, the only shoe you can buy at the Dollar Store. Maybe that's it, they're cheap, but whenever I blow through the National Enquirer or People, invariable some dripping in dough celeb is wearing Capri pants and flip flops. In public.

The last time I owned a pair was when I belonged to a gym and they told us we might get foot rot from other people using the same showers. Obviously that was enough to make me run screaming from the gym, never to return. Or at least that's the story I'm using.

Also, was it only in my little corner of the universe (not the jodiverse, but the jodyverse), Leominster, that called them "thongs"? This was way before crack floss had moved from the pages of the Adam and Eve catalog* into Kmart.

*Ya, ya, I know, but I didn't ask to receive it in the mail. That's what you get when you order cheap crap from the Harriet Carter (?) catalog. They sold my address, I swear!

Dude, a Little Sun Would Be Nice

Hello, is this thing on? *tap tap tap*. Yes, are you there God, it's me Jody. I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, we could stop with the snow already and have a nice, warm, dry weekend. See, I bought some sidewalk chalk the other day and we want to give it a try. Also, Junior will never learn to ride without training wheels if he goes weeks between rides. So I know Yahoo says it's going to rain over the next few days, but let's see what we can do to make them be wrong!

Playing with the Blogrolling

I've changed my Blogrolling list so the blogs are listed by how recently they were updated. Some of them don't ever seem to show that they've been updated, so I assume that means I probably don't have the link the owner uses on Weblogs. Oh, and now it shows those updated in the past 6 hours, instead of three, but the closer a blog is to the top, the more recently it was updated.

And I added a link to Where is Raed, which everyone seems to be following. It's a blog from Bahgdad. He hasn't updated since March 24th.

Of course, if you don't visit any of the links I've provided, you can just skip this entry.

I'm Tired

I just got NO sleep last night. First time since I was laid off in January 2002 that I lost sleep over my unemployment. I'm just not getting nibbles...I'm about ready to pay someone to re-write my resume, but hey, that costs money! I was freaking out all night because my unemployment claim ends in early May and I'm not convinced I'll qualify for an extension. Nobody in my local office could help me with that info. My current claim is already only 19 weeks, instead of 26 or 30, which is what I got last year, because I only worked a couple of months (last summer).

I just don't know what I'm going to do if nothing comes up in the next 5 weeks. I don't want to have to get a job just to get a job. I'd like to stay in my field. But that field just doesn't have openings. Grrrrrrrr.

Fool d'Avril

I was going to do a whole fake website April Fool's joke thing, but you know, that requires time and energy and a really clever idea. So instead, you get the normal everyday Big DumpTruck, complete with nothing funny, as usual.

p.s. Monkeys have taken over the Cartoon Network. What's great are the bumpers between cartoons that show the monkeys in the Cartoon Network offices, a la Lancelot Link. Very funny.