Month: September 2005

More photos are up on the CoffeeCup Software Relief site. I know they’ve received my shipment from Discount School Supplies. Somewhere in there are 10 elephant puppets (only 88 cents each!), crayons, lacing beads, glue sticks, craft sticks, and other stuff that I can’t remember.

I didn’t get paid last week because I was on vacation the week before (darned contract job!) so I couldn’t send out anything else. This weekend I’ll probably pull together something else, or a few more backpacks. Something. Anything.

In other horrible devastating news, the DirecTV Receiver/Tivo in our living room died. Oh. My. God. I joke, but it really is horrible. Do you know how much stuff we had on that hard drive? Gone. The customer service woman, in a move worthy of a ___fill in the blank_______, decides I may be an idiot and says “You know, some people copy things off the DVR onto videotapes.”

Really.

Well, hot shot, my VCR isn’t even hooked up to the TV any more. I don’t really watch video cassettes on any regular basis (we have two of them, but not on the living room TV). Oh, and if you hadn’t decided to limit the functionality of the Tivo (apparently taking a cue from T-Mobile, those crack phone company fiends who have turned off some of the standard functions of the SideKick that our friends using other carriers get, like, say, being able to use free ringtones) I could hook the damned thing up to my computer and back everything up that way. Then, if something breaks, I could restore the vital stuff.

Of course, nothing is truly vital, but there were shows and movies that we hadn’t watched yet – stuff that won’t rerun for ages. And now I have to remember what all my season passes were. Junior was very sad to lose some of the shows he’d asked me to record for him. Nothing like losing your house and all your belongings in a hurricane, to be sure. But enough to make me grumpy.

Oh, and because that means we don’t have a DirecTV receiver on that TV (until I take the one in the basement and move it upstairs) we haven’t been able to actually watch television. Last night I realized why we let Junior watch so much TV – because if we don’t, he will literally talk us to death. I got a 45 minute non-stop explanation of some version of Pokemon that he had invented to play after school with his friends, and the level of detail he provided was beyond what any human should have to endure. I love him dearly, but they could have taped him and then used that to blast out of speakers when they are trying to get people to come out of a building they’ve commandeered. You know what I mean? I literally begged him to go get a book or a game or something. Anything to stop talking for 2 minutes.

I do love him, I really do. But you had to be there.

The new Tivo is on order. I just hope they put a rush on it.

I have decided to go back to the pointless, mundane posts. I’m sure you guys won’t mind. If you’re looking for non-mundane, there’s plenty to find over at dailykos.com and metafilter.com. No need for more crap from me, right?

Oh, other than this one last thing. Cooler than cool friend of the Dump Becky pulling together a Spongebob-themed backpack to send down to our friends at CoffeeCup Software – and in it she put a note from Sandy Cheeks welcoming the child to her home state of Texas. How brilliant is that? Any Spongebob fan knows Sandy is from Texas. Prophetically, in one episode she sings “Wish I was back in Texas; the ocean’s no place for a squirrel.”

(If you haven’t send your backpack yet, this is a great idea, to include a note. The folks over at http://www.projectbackpack.org have also suggested this.)

Okay, so enough about generous thoughtful people. Back to me.

I am trying a new deodorant. It’s Lady Speed Stick 24/7 Antiperspirant Deodorant, Satin Pear scent. Very pear-y. I mean, I like the smell, but it is on the fruity side. I’m thinking maybe I can layer it with my Secret Solid Shower Fresh scent that wasn’t working so well any more. Maybe Shower Fresh Pear will be my new signature scent?

I left my phone home today, so I’ve already got the DTs because I can’t read any of my email.

Lastly, dear Big E:
Dear God, find a few dollars and go redo your radio ad campaign. I mean, NOW. I know you have a Mardi Gras parade (apparently) but when you said something about “just like in New Orleans” in the spot intro, I wasn’t expecting to hear some guy talking to his [child? baby?] telling her how to shake it to get more beads. It’s offensive even WITHOUT the fact that New Orleans doesn’t really exist right now. My jaw effectively dropped into my lap. Pull those ads right now.

That is all.

Here’s the Big DumpTruck bag collection. These (minus 2 I have to pick up from my sister) are from my aunt and uncle, my parents, and me, Mr. Dump and Junior. That puts us at about 12 backpacks. I did some great shopping yesterday, if I do say so myself. I didn’t pay more than $5 for the 10 backpacks, and I found boxes of crayons (24) for SEVEN CENTS EACH! I have to tell you, I felt like the bargain shopper of the century. And props to Junior who told me when he and grandma had been to the mall earlier in the week there’d been a big sale at KB Toys, because we got all SORTS of stuff from the bins, including some dollar card games and other dollar toys (Mighty Beanz, little race cars) and then some other stuff from the $3 and $5 bins. I got a couple of Barbies for $5 each, and some handheld electronic Scrabble games for the same price. I mean, I felt like the queen of shopping. These kids are going to get some good stuff in their backpacks!

And here is Phantom, checking to make sure I remembered to zip them all up.

Okay, kids, call to action time. After posting my Thursday message about how if I had unlimited resources, I’d provide a filled backpack to every child survivor of Katrina, my message was forwarded to a local company, and a grassroots effort was started by the employees to do just that. 200 employees have pledged to bring in a backpack on Tuesday, and the company has said they will ship them to Houston and arrange to have them delivered. Oh, and for every backpack an employee brings in, the company will match with one. That could mean 400 or more backpacks, each with a stuffed animal or toy, crayons, markers, etc. Some people have said they’ll put in clothes, art kids and handheld games. Oh my God, can you believe this? I’m not at liberty to give more details than this at this time (or even the name of the company), but hearing this brought tears to my eyes, and makes me want to do more.

So now I’m challenging all of you.

Can you get the word out, have others pull together a backpack with boy or girl-specific items in it, and then send them to the people at CoffeeCup? How awesome would it be if we could somehow get 10 or 20 or 100 people to send a backpack? (I can’t begin to hope we could get one for EACH child, but darn it, I want 1000 backpacks to head to Texas!)

CoffeeCup Software
c/o Hurricane Aid
226 South Tancahua Street
Corpus Christi, TX 78401

I wish I was in a position to gather and ship them myself, but I really have no room to do that, plus, it isn’t like all of you life in the Leominster-Fitchburg area. But if you do send something, can you let me know – drop an email or post a comment to this message? That would be FANTASTIC

[Updated:
Another family started an effort very similar to this one, and in fact they are far more organized. I’m not looking for glory – I’d be happy if we hitched up to their wagon too. The whole point is to get stuff to the kids, not to have the best backpack drive. http://www.projectbackpack.org/

Here’s another link I received for a similar effort. These people are trying to pull together school supplies for the thousands of kids pouring into Texas school systems. Another great effort! http://backpack.random-assortment.com/link.html) ]

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From Agathena in the dailyzos.com’s comments section:
Just say 9/01 – That is the day that Bush said:

“I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”

PBS did.
National Geographic did.
Popular Mechanics did.
Scientific American did.
Army Corps of Engineers did.
Scientists at University of Louisiana did.
Scientists at Louisiana State University did.

“Ah don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees”- GWB, 9/01 2005

DailyKoz has lots of interesting info on this train wreck of a FEMA head.
That sound you hear is what’s left of my respect for Bush circling the drain.

Don’t forget to read the comments. LOTS of good stuff in there.

Also, here’s what the Secretary of State was up to this week:
http://in.sys-con.com/read/125393.htm

I didn’t hear about this until I read an entry in my friend Gina’s Livejournal. She’s from New Orleans, and her parents (God willing) still live there.