Apr 5, 2009
Happy Birthday, Mom!
And, so the story continues from yesterday's post. You see, in addition to mowing our OWN lawn and getting the nasty green stuff off of our OWN house, we also did that for Mom while she is out of town! Shan and I also went over there today and ran the sweeper (vacuumed), dusted, and red up a bit! Oh, for you non-Pittsburghers, 'red up' means we straightened things up. Some of the words I use will ALWAYS be a part of me! :-)
Enjoy the video! I won't leave it up long because I know some folks aren't going to be happy that they are on YouTube... :-)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!
Apr 4, 2009
A nice day to do nothing - too bad we didn't
The weatherman said it was going to rain today (Saturday). He was wrong. What was supposed to be a nice day listening to the rain outside turned into working our tails off outside.
Have I mentioned that I am not an outdoors kinda person? When I say 'outdoors,' I don't just mean things like camping in a tent. I mean, I would generally prefer to be inside than outside. Now, there are times when being outdoors is great fun: baseball games, horse riding, campfires, that sort of thing. At the top of my list of outdoor things I don't like? Yard work. Yeah, so the yard looks great when you're done, but it's still at the top of my list.
I should back up a little first,
Shan and I woke up this morning, the kids were outside, and we decided to watch the "ER" retrospective that we had DVR'd on Thursday. It was a very cool, touching, and funny look back at one of the best dramas that had been on television. For me, the most touching moment was during the interview with Alex Kingston (Dr. Corday) remembering the final scenes with Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards). She broke down and asked them to cut. We all know those are 'just' characters in a show, but over time, we still connected with them and they became lifelike to us. We loved some and hated others. In the end, though, they touched us (referring specifically to me and Shan and not the 'global' us, though anyone who enjoyed the show would certainly fit in here, I'm sure.) in ways that become a part of our own fabric of life. The funny thing is, Shan and I had only watched a couple episodes this past season. But we still feel the connection to the folks we saw on the screen.
After we watched the retrospective, we called the kids inside and started cleaning the house. Once that was complete, we ate lunch. shan had made 'Tater Tot Casserole' - one of our favorite meals! I could tell the weatherman had missed the boat. Our grass had become out of control, and I knew it was a perfect day to get out and do some weed-eating. Little did I know that would lead to a full day of getting outdoor things done. While I did the chip-chopping, Shan drove the riding mower and cut the grass.
After the mowing and weed-eating was done, we decided it was time to wash the side of the house. We have one side that does not get much sun exposure, and because of that, things get wet when it rains but sees no sun to dry out. Can you say moss (or some kind of moss-like stuff)? So, we broke out the heavy-duty cleaner, mixed it in some water and started scrubbing. We tried to use Shan's Dad's power washer, but it's not working correctly so we turned to the 'old-fashioned' way: elbow grease. We scrubbed, swiped, wiped, and hosed for the better part of the afternoon. Of course, that led to scrubbing down several parts of the house.
There were other outdoor things we took care of (more on that tomorrow - Sunday), and by the time we came back in the house, it was after 6:00pm. Shan and I hit the showers and collapsed onto the couch.
Time is a little blurry for me, but somewhere in there, we watched the two-hour series finale of "ER." I have to say, it was one of the better finales I've seen in a while. I thought it was a great touch to bring back Rachel Greene. When she first came on the screen, we both knew that we knew her, but couldn't place her right away. I finally said, "Hey, wait, she's Dr. Greene's daughter!" There ya go.
Emily wanted to play some baseball, and even though we couldn't move our arms and legs, we went out and played a little ball until it was too dark to see anything.
When we came back in, we had supper. We ate the rest of the Tater Tot casserole, and it was great! After supper, I took a look at the fridge. See, after lunch, I grabbed an ice cream bar from the freezer. It wasn't fully frozen. Something was not right. So, after supper (and our workday outside), I started poking around. I pulled the front cover off the bottom of the fridge, and there were big ol' dust bunnies under there. After who knows how long, I finally had the coils cleaned off. Now we just wait to see how the fridge reacts. Hopefully that is all that was wrong.
Ah, I forgot, we also started our weekly laundry today, too. As I said, there were other things we did, but I'll cover that on Sunday. In some ways, I'm glad it didn't rain and we were able to get the yardwork done that needed to be done. In other ways, a nice downpour would have been nice.... At least I got my exercise in!
Have I mentioned that I am not an outdoors kinda person? When I say 'outdoors,' I don't just mean things like camping in a tent. I mean, I would generally prefer to be inside than outside. Now, there are times when being outdoors is great fun: baseball games, horse riding, campfires, that sort of thing. At the top of my list of outdoor things I don't like? Yard work. Yeah, so the yard looks great when you're done, but it's still at the top of my list.
I should back up a little first,
Shan and I woke up this morning, the kids were outside, and we decided to watch the "ER" retrospective that we had DVR'd on Thursday. It was a very cool, touching, and funny look back at one of the best dramas that had been on television. For me, the most touching moment was during the interview with Alex Kingston (Dr. Corday) remembering the final scenes with Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards). She broke down and asked them to cut. We all know those are 'just' characters in a show, but over time, we still connected with them and they became lifelike to us. We loved some and hated others. In the end, though, they touched us (referring specifically to me and Shan and not the 'global' us, though anyone who enjoyed the show would certainly fit in here, I'm sure.) in ways that become a part of our own fabric of life. The funny thing is, Shan and I had only watched a couple episodes this past season. But we still feel the connection to the folks we saw on the screen.
After we watched the retrospective, we called the kids inside and started cleaning the house. Once that was complete, we ate lunch. shan had made 'Tater Tot Casserole' - one of our favorite meals! I could tell the weatherman had missed the boat. Our grass had become out of control, and I knew it was a perfect day to get out and do some weed-eating. Little did I know that would lead to a full day of getting outdoor things done. While I did the chip-chopping, Shan drove the riding mower and cut the grass.
After the mowing and weed-eating was done, we decided it was time to wash the side of the house. We have one side that does not get much sun exposure, and because of that, things get wet when it rains but sees no sun to dry out. Can you say moss (or some kind of moss-like stuff)? So, we broke out the heavy-duty cleaner, mixed it in some water and started scrubbing. We tried to use Shan's Dad's power washer, but it's not working correctly so we turned to the 'old-fashioned' way: elbow grease. We scrubbed, swiped, wiped, and hosed for the better part of the afternoon. Of course, that led to scrubbing down several parts of the house.
There were other outdoor things we took care of (more on that tomorrow - Sunday), and by the time we came back in the house, it was after 6:00pm. Shan and I hit the showers and collapsed onto the couch.
Time is a little blurry for me, but somewhere in there, we watched the two-hour series finale of "ER." I have to say, it was one of the better finales I've seen in a while. I thought it was a great touch to bring back Rachel Greene. When she first came on the screen, we both knew that we knew her, but couldn't place her right away. I finally said, "Hey, wait, she's Dr. Greene's daughter!" There ya go.
Emily wanted to play some baseball, and even though we couldn't move our arms and legs, we went out and played a little ball until it was too dark to see anything.
When we came back in, we had supper. We ate the rest of the Tater Tot casserole, and it was great! After supper, I took a look at the fridge. See, after lunch, I grabbed an ice cream bar from the freezer. It wasn't fully frozen. Something was not right. So, after supper (and our workday outside), I started poking around. I pulled the front cover off the bottom of the fridge, and there were big ol' dust bunnies under there. After who knows how long, I finally had the coils cleaned off. Now we just wait to see how the fridge reacts. Hopefully that is all that was wrong.
Ah, I forgot, we also started our weekly laundry today, too. As I said, there were other things we did, but I'll cover that on Sunday. In some ways, I'm glad it didn't rain and we were able to get the yardwork done that needed to be done. In other ways, a nice downpour would have been nice.... At least I got my exercise in!
Apr 1, 2009
Bye-Bye... Idol Wednesday
Groups of Three
Megan - BOTTOM THREE - I bet she goes home tonight.
Matt - SAFE - Meh.
Kris - SAFE - Oh, yeah! That is awesome!!
Adam - SAFE - Oy. Well, he'll run out of votes eventually.
Lil - SAFE - I'm glad to see that, but it is no surprise. She's fantastic.
Allison - BOTTOM THREE - Not really a surprise.
Scott - SAFE - Whoa, that's actually a shock to me, just because I figured Anoop was safe always.
Danny - SAFE - Excellent. I hope ends up top five.
Anoop - BOTTOM THREE - Wow, that really surprised me! I thought he had a huge fan following. Evidently not as big as the other folks.
Bottom Three
Megan - SING4SAVE - No save for her, and I'm not surprised. She'll get to show her stuff on tour, but I don't think she'll be missed too much. At least not in this household...
Allison - SAFE - I think she has star potential, no matter what happens.
Anoop - SAFE - I think his luck will run out soon.
What in the fruit is LadyGaGa? They have a #1 song!? This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen in my life. Wow, these -er, uh- people would be voted off first round if they were on any kind of reality show. seriously, people listen and watch these freaks? Well, they can at least they left me, ummmm, speechless.... Not in a good way.
Megan - BOTTOM THREE - I bet she goes home tonight.
Matt - SAFE - Meh.
Kris - SAFE - Oh, yeah! That is awesome!!
Adam - SAFE - Oy. Well, he'll run out of votes eventually.
Lil - SAFE - I'm glad to see that, but it is no surprise. She's fantastic.
Allison - BOTTOM THREE - Not really a surprise.
Scott - SAFE - Whoa, that's actually a shock to me, just because I figured Anoop was safe always.
Danny - SAFE - Excellent. I hope ends up top five.
Anoop - BOTTOM THREE - Wow, that really surprised me! I thought he had a huge fan following. Evidently not as big as the other folks.
Bottom Three
Megan - SING4SAVE - No save for her, and I'm not surprised. She'll get to show her stuff on tour, but I don't think she'll be missed too much. At least not in this household...
Allison - SAFE - I think she has star potential, no matter what happens.
Anoop - SAFE - I think his luck will run out soon.
What in the fruit is LadyGaGa? They have a #1 song!? This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen in my life. Wow, these -er, uh- people would be voted off first round if they were on any kind of reality show. seriously, people listen and watch these freaks? Well, they can at least they left me, ummmm, speechless.... Not in a good way.
No Cotton-pickin' Conficker here
I scanned the commputers on the home network for Conficker, and everything came up clean. So, at least we are not the supposed 1-in-16 infected machines in the world.
Wanna see if you're one of the infected machines? It's easy. CLICK HERE to download the free Sophos detection/removal tool. When you click the link, choose "OPEN" or "RUN" when prompted.
It will download and launch the scanner. Depending on how much information you have on your computer, it can take 30-45 minutes to complete the scan. When it's finished, you should see a "Scan Complete. Conficker not detected." Otherwise, the scanner will let you know you're infected and attempt to clean the machine.
As for my work computers, I ran a network version of a Conficker scanner and all the machines that were turned on at the time came back clean. According to an email we received from the State Information Dept, fewer than 75 instances were detected on the state network. Given that there are more than 300 districts, 15 education service centers and numerous other entities on the K12 network, I'd say that is awesome.
Wanna see if you're one of the infected machines? It's easy. CLICK HERE to download the free Sophos detection/removal tool. When you click the link, choose "OPEN" or "RUN" when prompted.
It will download and launch the scanner. Depending on how much information you have on your computer, it can take 30-45 minutes to complete the scan. When it's finished, you should see a "Scan Complete. Conficker not detected." Otherwise, the scanner will let you know you're infected and attempt to clean the machine.
As for my work computers, I ran a network version of a Conficker scanner and all the machines that were turned on at the time came back clean. According to an email we received from the State Information Dept, fewer than 75 instances were detected on the state network. Given that there are more than 300 districts, 15 education service centers and numerous other entities on the K12 network, I'd say that is awesome.
Idol Tuesday (a day late)
IDOL TUESDAY
Anoop - I have no idea what he is singing - I cannot understand him. So, here's a pumping song, and he is not dancing or anything. Walking around is not dancing.
Megan - Whoa, what the heck is this train wreck? This was awful... I can't even give it a name. Shan wants to give her a double NO!
Danny - Uh, oh, he is singing Rascal Flatts, Shan's favorite group. I like his version. It's has a lot of soul. Wonder if he thought of his wife during rehearsal. Shan liked it - though she said it was not his best. Emily said she doesn't like his singing.
Allison - What the heck is up with her hair? He's Pebbles Flintstone - Tyler said 'with a little bam-bam' - LOL. Man, I wasn't sure this was the right song when they said she was singing 'no doubt,' and I was right. This was wrong. Tyler gives her a .5 out of 10.
Scott - Billy Joel, eh? Well, let's see how this goes. It's kind of... hmmm... I dunno... Las vegas isn't quite right... It's okay, I guess, but I would not listen to it on the radio. Shan it's much better than what he's done in the past. Big improvement from last week.
Matt - 'You found me' - Bad start. Not good. Off key, bad low end. All over the place pitchwise.
Lil - She is classically soulful. I don't like the look she's sporting, but that doesn't really matter. Shan didn't necessarily like the song, but she likes Lil, so she gave her yes.
Adam - What the!? LOL, emily said "No, just because of his hair!" Wow, he's like a bad version of John Stamos being Jesse on Full House. Seriously. Nonono, not Jesse the guy on Grease 2 - not the main character, but one of the T-Birds dudes... Adrian Zmed. No April Fool's.
Kris - Oh, man, this is smooth! Wow, I think this is the best performance of the night. Man, this boy can sing. Dawg, this guy is good - flat out good.
NAME----DAVE----SHAN---EMILY--
Anoop----N-------?-------N----
Megan----N-------N-------N----
Danny----Y-------Y-------N----
Allison--N-------?-------N----
Scott----?-------Y-------N----
Matt-----N-------N-------N----
Lil------Y-------Y-------N----
Adam-----N-------N-------N----
Kris-----Y-------Y-------Y----
Anoop - I have no idea what he is singing - I cannot understand him. So, here's a pumping song, and he is not dancing or anything. Walking around is not dancing.
Megan - Whoa, what the heck is this train wreck? This was awful... I can't even give it a name. Shan wants to give her a double NO!
Danny - Uh, oh, he is singing Rascal Flatts, Shan's favorite group. I like his version. It's has a lot of soul. Wonder if he thought of his wife during rehearsal. Shan liked it - though she said it was not his best. Emily said she doesn't like his singing.
Allison - What the heck is up with her hair? He's Pebbles Flintstone - Tyler said 'with a little bam-bam' - LOL. Man, I wasn't sure this was the right song when they said she was singing 'no doubt,' and I was right. This was wrong. Tyler gives her a .5 out of 10.
Scott - Billy Joel, eh? Well, let's see how this goes. It's kind of... hmmm... I dunno... Las vegas isn't quite right... It's okay, I guess, but I would not listen to it on the radio. Shan it's much better than what he's done in the past. Big improvement from last week.
Matt - 'You found me' - Bad start. Not good. Off key, bad low end. All over the place pitchwise.
Lil - She is classically soulful. I don't like the look she's sporting, but that doesn't really matter. Shan didn't necessarily like the song, but she likes Lil, so she gave her yes.
Adam - What the!? LOL, emily said "No, just because of his hair!" Wow, he's like a bad version of John Stamos being Jesse on Full House. Seriously. Nonono, not Jesse the guy on Grease 2 - not the main character, but one of the T-Birds dudes... Adrian Zmed. No April Fool's.
Kris - Oh, man, this is smooth! Wow, I think this is the best performance of the night. Man, this boy can sing. Dawg, this guy is good - flat out good.
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