The Big DumpTruck

I think it's very important that you all go and figure out if you need a pan flute or not.

Labels: quiz

I remembered what I was going to write about! I should probably save this for a novel or short story, but don't you think you have earned a special posting? I think you have. All 3 of you who read this site regularly.

Sunday night there were a lot of odd conversations. VERY odd. We had my niece and nephew over for a while, and then when my sister came to get them, we all went to TGI Fridays. So here are the things that occurred after we got the kids in the van:

1. I became an eastern European tour bus guide. I pointed out helpful things along the lines of "In front of you is road. Behind is road." I pointed out the rubbish barrels on the side of the road. I told them that if at any point they noticed the bus driver missing, they should "Press ding button". They seemed greatly amused by the whole drive.

2. There were two shows on the TVs in the TGIF bar - on one was a car race. On the other, I don't know because I could only see TVs with the car race. I pointed out that race car drivers probably wore diapers. There was some discussion about "pit stop" means something different in non-racing circles. We call it a pit stop when we want a potty break. Mr. Dump pointed out that race car drivers don't exit the car during the race.

3. Whatever was on the other television involved bees. I asked what it was about and Mr. Dump said it was a story about how they are training bees to sniff out drugs. We envisioned a world where they would release swarms of bees in airports to look for drugs. I thought maybe they meant farms where they were growing pot. We wondered if it would be helpful to attach little cameras to the backs of the bees. Then Mr. Dump admitted he made the whole thing up. I still think you'd get a lot more people admitting they had drugs on them if swarms of bees were circling their heads.

4. Nah, I'm saving this one for the re-write of the nano-novel. I have to have SOMETHING to replace all the crappy stuff I have to remove.

Labels: 01453, bees, bus, Leominster, odd

I had the really pleasant "2 hours to drive what normally takes 40 minutes" commute this morning. People, if you can't drive in the snow, stay home and let the rest of us get to work. Of course, I have four new tires on my van, so I'm feeling a little better about driving in bad weather. Nothing like fresh treads to take your mind of hydroplaning. Not that I'm a risky driver; I most certainly am not. But there was nothing out on 117 today that should have caused it to back up the way it did. Someone is to blame, and when I find that person, I am going to give him/her SUCH an Indian burn!

Oh wait, is it politically incorrect to call it an Indian burn? I'm sorry. I meant no disrespect. Do tell, dear readers...what is the politically correct way to refer to an Indian burn?

So while I was stuck in the car for two hours, I had some kind of great idea for what to talk about today, but somehow I forgot what it was. I could make something up, but it wouldn't be the great thing that I thought of. You know, the great thing that would catapult me to the top of the personal website heap. Make ME blogging queen 2007. But I can't remember what it was. So I continue to flounder in obscurity. In 11 years of doing this, can't I be the queen at least once?

Other ordinary stuff:
Video Game Review: Sonic and the something something for Wii: I haven't played the game-game (sorry!) but I have played the really great bunch of party games a la Mario Party. In fact, I like them better than Mario Party 7. I've heard Mario Party 8 (due out soon?) isn't what it could be. So A- for Sonic's party games, or what I've seen of it so far. [Note: If you buy this at Target it comes with an exclusive DVD with a Sonic Comic book on it. We took a look and it's not worth buying just for that, unless the Target price is lower than wherever else you shop.]

Music: John Mayer Continuum A. I love it. Mr. Dump loves it. What more do you need?

Labels: 01453, car, commute, music, wii

Okay, only a few hours left to the Leominster challenge on Flickr. The challenge was to take a photo of a door. Nothing specific on the type of door, mind you, just that it couldn't be a photo you'd taken prior to my issue of the challenge.

Upload yours to flickr and add it to our Leominster group!

I actually forced myself to sit through last night's American Idol. I am hoping that the reason everyone was so lame is because they were so completely overwhelmed by being in the final 24. I'm hoping.

I'm a huge huge fan of Chris Sligh, though. Enough that for the first time since Idol debuted, I actually called in and voted in an early round. He's great, his personality is great. I want to hang around with him. Don't you think he'd be fun to take bowling?

Tonight the girls are on. I pray they are better than the guys, because if they aren't, that's 4 hours of my life I'm not going to get back. Well, 2.5 because have a Tivo.

Labels: Idol, television

Okay, Junior and I were taking photos today. That was our activity. We did take a bunch of pictures up at Skyview Middle School, which can be seen in my personal Leominster set (they are also in the Leominster group I linked to below.)

That little trip went fairly well, considering it was about 500 below zero up on top of the hill so we decided to take most of the pictures from inside the car.

When it was closer to sunset (i.e. good light) we headed over to Evergreen Cemetery to get a few more shots. I went in the main entrance to see if I could get a good shot of the sign (I couldn't) and then headed up the road to the right that goes into the "old" section. I got to the part that curves uphill...and it was snow-covered with big ruts. Uh oh, my van was not going to make it up the hill. But when I went to back down, the car didn't turn, it just sort of slid straight down. I didn't hit anything but snow, but that snow got good and jammed and my car got stuck. So I tried to rock it back and forth and started to get nervous that I was getting too close to the stones, given that I was trying to do this by myself.

I eventually called Mr. Dump to bring a shovel to save us. How embarrassing. But I don't think this is my fault. If the city didn't want to plow that whole road (it was plowed up to that curve) they should have blocked it with a barrel or something. And looking at that immediate area, it looks like I wasn't the first person to get stuck there.

If the city is going to plow the roads in the cemetery, they should plow all the roads in the cemetery, or block them off so that people like me don't get stuck and there isn't a risk of anyone damaging the stones.

So Mr. Dump freed us, and we went home photo-less. I told Junior we'd go back...after the snow melts.

Labels: 01453, car, Leominster, photos

I just created a Leominster MA group on Flickr. There was already a Fitchburg group. I'm going to make the description that it's not just for photos of Leominster, but for photos from photographers from Leominster.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/leominster/

I'm going to try to go out and take a few photos today. I am really going to try to take advantage of flickr and the communities. I've already learned a couple of things from the Canon Rebel XTi group I joined.

Labels: flickr, Leominster, photos

This is the coolest photo of the group I took today.

Labels: dog, nose, phantom

I'm working from home because Leominster called a snow day, so Junior is trying to figure out how to make snowballs out of sleet. Someone is bound to get hurt, I just want to call that one early. The conversation will sound a lot like

I got hurt!
Put some ice on it.
That's how I got hurt!

I decided it was as good a day as any to burn some backup DVDs. Actually, I'm starting to think I should have burned backup CDs. Sure, I can store many gigs of content on a DVD, but it takes a good half an hour or more to burn one. Sheesh.

There's nothing that feels better than doing a backup of my photos so that I won't be as nervous about the laptop pooping out on me like the last one did. I also did a backup of some of the stuff I've purchased on iTunes recently. Heavens to Betsy, I don't want to lose anything I actually paid for!

I was practicing taking snow photos with the new camera, but I'm still in the learning stages. I think I will be for a long time. I have started to "get it" about certain settings, but I can't say that I know which ones to use to get the results I want.

I also practiced taking pictures of the dog, because it was a lot less cold and wet sitting on the floor in front of him. The thing I need to try to figure out (and I don't know if there's anything specific to this in the manual) is how to take a photo through a window without it auto focusing on the screen. I think I may have to use manual focus. Wish me luck!

[Link to Phantom Photos ]

Update 2:47pm: I also took some bird pictures but I don't think they came out nearly as well. One of you is going to have to pony up for one of the Image Stabilization lenses I want for my camera. The zoom one they just released for a thousand dollars will be just fine.

I don't even know what Shoo Fly Pie is. I think it's molasses-based super sweet pie. Just the kind of thing that gives dentists the heebie-jeebies.

Our house is infested with what I call "banana bugs". They got in the house via banana, and found an onion that was on the counter behind something else, so we didn't see it right away. I guess it was pretty bad when Mr. Dump found it. By then the gnats were making themselves comfortable whenever and wherever they liked. So we've been doing extra scrubbing, doing dishes immediately, putting all fruit and veggies in the fridge or the microwave, throwing the rubbish out right away, rinsing out our empties so well you could eat off them. Still, the buggers are in the house, driving us crazy.

Mr. Dump went to Shaw's last night to get the minimal groceries we need for the next few days, when he passed through the produce section and saw there were fruit flies EVERYWHERE. So the store is infested, which is how our house got infested. He ran to customer service and reamed them out and the woman casually mentioned he was the FOURTH person to complain. Oh, and all the fly strips and all those types of bug-catching devices? The shelves are BARE. So we aren't the only people in Leominster breeding bugs. Thanks, Shaws! I hope you straighten things out before someone gets the board of health involved!

Oh, and here's the method we're going to use to get rid of the buggers. Apparently they are stupid, which is why this works.

From http://fruitflytraps.com/hometrap.htm

1. Get 1 empty 2-litre plastic bottle.
2. Remove the cap
3. Mark the bottle about an inch below where the curvy part stops and the straight side of the bottle starts.
4. Cut the bottle where you marked, at the the straight part
5. Put an inch or so of one (or more) of the following into the base of the bottle: Vinegar, Apple Cider, Wine, Orange Juice.
6. Turn the other piece, the top piece, of the bottle upside down, so the spout is pointing into the base of the bottle and jam it in
7. Use tape (duct, masking) to seal up where the two pieces meet.

Voila, jar of dead bugs! We hear it works pretty quickly to trap them, although they may not die immediately. You can replace the liquid if it gets too gross.

Storm's a 'comin! Did you run out and get milk-eggs-bread yet? Cause you know it's a law that you have to. We need to go grocery shopping for realsies, and now I dread it. You crazy french toast making people...you'd better leave some bread and milk behind for those of us who actually have none left. I will not be buying in anticipation of 6 inches of snow (the current prediction). I've been living in New England for 42 years. Funny thing about snow storms. Outside of the beast like New York State had last week, snow ends, the roads get plowed and sanded, and voila, you can leave your house.

I actually have four or five whole cans of soup at my house, that in an emergency, I could probably survive off of those. Or a boxes of Near East Rice Pilaf, or the massive pasta stores we are required to keep on hand thanks to Junior's pasta addiction. I think I have a way to go before I start eyeballing the dog food.

By the way, I know in the distant past I covered Mr. Fussy's eating habits. Updating you on those, did you know that he now actually orders steak, shrimp or grilled chicken instead of pasta? Did you know that? He has eaten pot roast (Oh, hey, you know, maybe that's what we need to get for the snow day...) and roast chicken and ham and bacon. For any of you with fussy eaters (and I mean, he ate pasta with red sauce for lunch and dinner every day for a couple of years) there is hope. They do add items to the menu! There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Labels: food, junior, snow, weather

You know, usually this time of year, we bitch and moan and crab about how sick we are of winter, and how we wish it was April or May already. Me, I'm fondly remembering the warm, lush days of January. Whoda thunk it. Well me. I remember thunking to myself "Boy, we're going to be really sorry when all this ends and we get real winter temperatures."

My nasal passages are so angry with me, we aren't on speaking terms. I need to swing by the Hallmark Store to buy them a card.

"When you're blue
And you don't know
Where to go to
Why don't you go where saline sits
I'll give you a spritz."

I hope it doesn't have a picture of a flower on the front. My sinuses really hate flowers.

Labels: 01453, nose, poetry, winter

I just found out that anyone from Comcast trying to send me email was getting some sort of bounce message. For like a year now.

It's not me. I don't hate you. But something about a bank of mail servers at my hosting company was having a tiff with Comcast and the result was me not getting your email. I apologize. The hosting company says they've corrected the problem. After a year.

From now on, if that happens to you and you think it's a real problem (i.e. the web site is up and running by email bounces) drop a comment on the website telling me your mail bounced. I'd rather fix these sooner rather than later.

Remember, if the site is up and running, email should be too. If the site is down, there's probably an issue with the hosting company.

Wow. Some boring game. If we had been in there insteadof the Colts, the
score would have been about 70-6.

And where the hell were all the good commercials?

Over on Universal Hub, I'm following the threads on the "Bomb Hoax" (which wasn't, it was an ad campaign, fyi). I posted all my thoughts there in one of the comments, so I'll only excerpt here. Oh, and the title of the post was my utterly original reference in my comment. I was so proud of that one! And then I did some web-hoping and discovered someone else called them that too. Damn.

So anyway, I'm glad that the police reacted, I really am. My concern is the overreaction, and the complete post-event meltdown of our leaders. Yes, all bomb-like objects need to be treated as if they are bombs. But these things were blinking and waving at people for three weeks, and apparently, they didn't appear to be bombs to the thousands of people who passed them every day.

The two young men who got thrown in jail for putting them up...that could be any of us. What if you were working on a robot kit (they sell them) and you put your project in your backpack and a wire or two was sticking out. And you put your bag down for a minute at the bus stop. You'd be sitting in jail with those other two guys for "scaring the public" with your fake bomb.

The line that got me was from a blogger who says he's a homeland security consultant (?). He says:

"you can bet that now any sleeper cells in the US have tucked this
particular one away: what kind of fun thing can we use to disguise a bomb as
next time? ..."

Um, dude? You don't think they were already doing that? I mean, seriously, you don't think they were trying to figure out how do disguise things as bombs BEFORE now? It's so typical of the government these days. Blame the people. If a bomb shows up in the shape of a yo-yo, that's going to be Ted Turner's fault. We are to blame for terrorists doing terrorist things, just because we refuse to build bunkers to hide in for the rest of our lives.

Keep threatening to arrest people for taking pictures of birds. Don't let people take magazines on flights. Because really, if we can't live in a 100% completely paranoid state, we aren't trying hard enough.

Labels: 9/11, Boston, Police