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ARCHIVES: October 8-15, 2003
October 15, 2003 - Wednesday
My husband and I were walking down the Steinmart Mall shopping complex on Airport Road. As we passed a Cingular Wireless store, my husband pointed out the big pile of pigeon droppings at the entrance. To get into the store would involve taking a huge step over the droppings. We looked up. There, sitting on a tiny box over the door was a pigeon! Obviously he had been perching there for many days. It has become very dangerous to walk into Cingular Wireless. Perhaps you have to bribe the pigeon with a treat before he will let you in unscathed.
Does this sound ridiculously high or is it the norm these days? My alternator went out in our old Saturn (over 150,000 miles on it). As old as it is, I was not surprised. I took it to Firestone (a neighborhood place). They charged a total of $302 to replace it. I thought alternators were cheaper than that. (I would have gone to my Saturn dealership, but I did not think the car would make it that far across town and I am not sure they would have been less expensive.)
Last May, right after I bought my new camera, I upload some photos to AOL. I was so proud of them. In my mail today, someone sent me a note saying they had "fixed" my May photo -- told me that it "needed" cropping, etc. I am sure that they meant well, wanted to impress me -- and it did need cropping -- but it suddenly became a dare to me to do better. I have been taking Photoshop Lessons and have since learned a few tricks. This was fun. (Click to enlarge image.)
On
this day in 1980, my son was born. These are his footprints. He was premature. It was touch and go for a week. I had been in labor for 3 days -- at one point, very painful back
labor. The hospital had a new medicine that stopped labor and it worked. They
stopped my labor for 5 hours during those 3 days. Unfortunately, the medicine
was new and the hospital lost it (I was told later that they thought they had
run out, but instead, they had just plain lost it in their inventory.)
During those three
days of labor, they gave me shots which developed my son's lungs. When he was
born, he never needed a respirator (just an oxygen tent).
Still, he was less than 6 months along and weighed less than a pound. Just as we thought he would pull through, he started failing and passed away 9 days after being born. I was amazed that he had a beautiful little voice and sucked his thumb. He tried very hard to live - I witnessed his daily struggle to survive. At that point, I became appalled that abortions could still be legal anywhere for babies only 5 months developed. He had a personality and will to live. I could not imagine how a mother would destroy her healthy unborn child. During that time, I became solidly pro-life.
In my faith, we believe that families will be together in heaven, will see and recognize each other. I look forward to meeting my son again.
October 14, 2003 - Tuesday
Whew! We spent some time hauling boxes upstairs as we helped my daughter move out. She graduated from college, is working in her career, involved with many friends including ones who will be neighbors and she wanted a place of her own. It was time. She leaves today. It is a big moment for us all. She took my cell cam with her for a little while last night and posted a couple of pictures of herself and her friends in my photo blog.
I am not as sad as I could be, I guess. She was so busy with a social life and working that I did not see her much anyway. She will be living close by. We plan to continue meeting once a week for lunch and I look forward to the new space in our house.
Not only is our daughter leaving, but so is her cat, Myst. She never had brothers and sisters living although I wanted at least 4 children. Instead, she was raised with cats (the next best thing to humans). Like me, she can't imagine life without a cat. She is very good to them. We will miss Myst, too. He was used to sleeping on my mousepad. In fact, he was a good mouser because my mouse cord got chewed up pretty well.
I can't say the nest is empty with the 3 cats that will be staying with us. In fact, I wish I could talk my husband into getting two more cats -- I want a chinchilla silver like my daughter's (such big sad eyes they have) and another Himalayan (to breed with Muddy). But five housecats is too many. We aren't looking to go insane here. Ha!
October 13, 2003 - Monday
A friend living in
Boston told me that this is a big day for Italians there. I like the idea of an
Italian holiday. Let's go out and eat Italian today! (That's what I told my
friends while taking our morning walk.) My husband wants to eat at Quizno's. He's
in a sandwich mood. He assures me that it is an Italian name. On the other hand,
I am tempted to go to Macaroni Grill -- fine Italian food. Heck, I can't make up
my mind. (Oh well, today's
photo blog will
probably show where I ended up and with whom).
Speaking of Columbus, I admire his courage in traveling here. Even if he technically was not the first to discover this continent, he was the one to bring it to the attention of the world.
October 12, 2003 - Sunday
After lunch, we
went shopping for a new microwave. (We gave the old one to my daughter.)
Wal-Mart had many models to choose from although nothing was exactly what we
wanted. We finally just picked one and brought it home. I remember the first
time we bought a microwave back in 1980. They cost a mint back then -- I think
we paid $200 or $300 for one. Now they are about a fourth of that.
This new GE oven is very powerful -- 11oo watts. Our old one was about 600 or 650. It's going to be interesting as we learn to use one all over again. All the food cooking times have changed. I overcooked the first thing I put in it already. It has some kind of quick controls, too. I pressed the number 2 and the oven sprang to life and started cooking before I hit "start" or any other buttons. Okay, time to break out the manual.
What will they do next? Start cooking just by looking at them?
After years of persuasion, my husband finally agreed to try this Thai place I love - Surin's on Airport Road. I was very excited that he liked it and he even said that he would come again!! It is one of my very favorite places. I brought my trusty cell cam and photographed the whole thing beginning here (then click "Newer Image" to follow the visit sequentially). My favorite dish there is Thai Noodles with chicken, pork and shrimp.
October 11, 2003 - Saturday
October is National Cookie Month
From
a newspaper I read, it says, "October is National Cookie Month, which celebrates
the cultural and culinary contributions of the cookie."
More ...
What's your favorite kind of cookie? I like most of them -- from Girl Scout Thin Mints to Oreos to homemade sugar cookies to no-bake oatmeal, but my very favorite is a warm, fresh semi-sweet chocolate chip cookie with macadamia nuts.
More in the Montgomery Advertiser
On Monday, Oct. 13, the Montgomery Advertiser is going to run an article about cell phone cameras on the front page of their lifestyles section. Teri Greene, a very nice reporter, asked me for photos and plans to use part of my earlier interview (most of which was not yet printed). I spoke highly of photo blogging. It's easy (just snap a picture and send it to a photo blog immediately using a cell phone - no text required).
It's a simple way to blog -- relatives and friends can check in and see what's up -- and, I like to go crazy taking photos. There are too many for a formal website while I can throw them to a photoblog site like TextAmerica.com and have them displayed immediately -- kind of like home movies, but people can pop in or not, stay only as long as they want and I don't have to feel silly for posting so many photos (I have over a thousand on my photo blog right now, most from the cell phone but others I e-mailed in later using other cameras).
Even better, I don't have to pay for the space since TextAmerica offers it for free. Once in a while, I send the cell cam photo to my own e-mail account and run it through Photoshop before posting it. Cell phone cameras have poor quality, although I expect they will improve in time. As these cell phones become more popular, I think photo blogging will take off.
I learned much about this from Leoville. He suggests that the best photo blogs tell a story. I followed his blog going to a baseball game. He took photos of the entrance so we knew where he was headed, his tickets, the seats around him, even a half eaten but colorful hotdog and more. He often takes behind-the-scenes photos of his show. I found the whole thing interesting. (Famous people who keep photo blogs -- so fun to watch -- they are their own paparazzi -- or maybe the better word here is publicist.)
On Monday, it can be seen online by going to www.montgomeryadvertiser.com and clicking on "lifestyle" on the left.
Letter from the "City of Huntsville, Engineering Division"
A newsletter from Huntsville arrived in our mailbox. It started out with "Dear Huntsville Resident: (then in all caps) YOUR PROPERTY IS IN A SPECIAL FLOOD HAZARD AREA." No kidding! Gee, I wished they had told us this before our home flooded, but I am glad to see them make an attempt to let the newer residents know. This probably has somethng to do with the lawsuit many flooded homeowners filed against the city. We knew some of our property was in the flood zone, but we were told that our home itself was NOT in the 100-year flood zone. Nevertheless we had purchased flood insurance -- just towards the structure, not the contents.
Unfortunately, the whole house flooded that awful day in June 1999 when Aldridge Creek overflowed its banks and we lost most of the contents. This newsletter quotes my husband and myself on our flood insurance -- how we were glad to have some, but wished we'd had more. This makes a good point about insurance - be sure to get enough whether it be for home, car, life -- whatever -- and let me add another lesson, make a will! Even if you only have one beneficiary, get a will made or that person will have to pay much more than they would have.
October 10, 2003 - Friday
These are the Jack-O-Lanterns of my nieces and nephews as photographed by my sister, Deborah. It's my wallpaper right now. She gets very creative this of year with costumes, too.
Alabama, the 46th Smartest State?
This was posted by Puma over in the Huntsville Newsgroup. I don't know if I agree with the report, but on the other hand we beat Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and New Mexico. (Don't some of those low-ranking states have a lottery? Does this mean that a state lottery does not mean an increase in education, making smarter people?)
Also, according to this group, Alabama is the 31st safest state in which to live and the 47th healthiest state. These study people must never have lived here -- it is the best state in my rankings.
October 9, 2003 - Thursday
Anyone is invited to snap a picture with a sequential number on it and then e-mail it to this site. If it fits, it is added to the photoblog immediately. What this site is doing is taking pictures with numbers in it beginning with one and having folks upload them in order. For example, today the site had photos up to number 80. I just sent in number 81. Someone else can send in number 82 next. Their goal is to reach 500 by the end of the year and they do not take photos out of order. Take a look at the site and it is easier to understand. (Computer screen shots are too easy so they are not allowed.)
Notorious Number MoBlog (Click on my picture to see the entire collection.)
Having used Winamp for so long, I didn't stop to think that the Windows Media Player had some clever skins until Nicole Guilfoyle mentioned it. Frankly I used a bunch of things including Quicktime and more.
(One note about Winamp 3 -- it does not work well with my Soundblaster card. Even after installing a new motherboard and reinstalling the sound card, it continued to clash with it. Besides, I heard a lot of folks hate Winamp 3 and have gone back to version 2.9.) Maybe I'll try the onboard sound card on this motherboard one day.
Windows Media Player Skins & Windows Media Player Visualizations
October 8, 2003 - Wednesday
Mystic Angel Paws
(Myst for Short)
Little Kitty has a name! My daughter finally decided upon Mystic Angel Paws or Myst as a nickname. He is white with a touch of silver on the edges of his fur and it matches our other cat, Prince Muddy Paws, so I think its perfect. I will miss him. He leaves us a week from today. He has been fun -- I've learned to type in new ways since he sleeps right in front of my keyboard! I won't miss the cramped fingers.
We were going up Weatherly Road and stopped behind three cars, the one in front being a black pickup. The train was crossing so we were all completely stopped. Suddenly the black pickup started backing up and he hit us! He later told us that he was worried about the car in front of him getting too close to the train so he quickly decided to back up -- too quickly to even look behind him. Argh!
I am beginning to lose count as to how often this has happened. This is at least the third time I've been hit this way. I mean hit while ALL cars were stopped and the one in front of me makes an impulsive decision to back up -- without really looking. Another time, we were dropping off children at school. Thank goodness my daughter had already gotten out of the car. Another time was when I was behind a boat, he backed up and his blade sliced my plastic bumper. In EVERY one of these times, we had all been STOPPED and waiting. What is it with these people?!!!
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