mrlaugh's after midnight thread

[serra]

:evillaf:

listen up yo, cuz this is it...the new and improved after midnight thread.

same rules:

start posting - 12:00 am EST
stop posting - when the sun rises




:pray: please don't let this thread die on my watch

March 15, 2009, 3:10 am: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread (http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1243321) for reference purposes.

September 8, 2009, 3:10 am: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread (http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1546493) for reference purposes.

July 12, 2010, 3:17 pm: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2123270) for reference purposes.

May 2, 2011, 3:13 am: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2891713) for reference purposes.

[Jex]

:evillaf:

listen up yo, cuz this is it...the new and improved after midnight thread.

same rules:

start posting - 12:00 am EST
stop posting - when the sun rises




:pray: please don't let this thread die on my watch

For $5.00. :P

[serra]

cute pic jex! i saw it. ;)

[Jex]

cute pic jex! i saw it. ;)

:eek: I didn't do nothing. And you have no proof. :ninja:

[serra]

:eek: I didn't do nothing. And you have no proof. :ninja:

pictures are worth a thousand words....you said it all in one :eek:

hehe, are you gonna wear that out on BF?

[mrlaugh]

I'm still here, I was saying good night to nessy :sheep:

we've been hitting mid-90s here, but it's not been upper 90s into the 100s like it was last year. boat load of rain this year, too, after a two year drought the whole area is nearly soaked, three of the four bridges from laredo into Mexico are closed, if I heard correctly this morning.

[mrlaugh]

okay, now I'm headed to bed.

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

I'm still here, I was saying good night to nessy :sheep:

we've been hitting mid-90s here, but it's not been upper 90s into the 100s like it was last year. boat load of rain this year, too, after a two year drought the whole area is nearly soaked, three of the four bridges from laredo into Mexico are closed, if I heard correctly this morning.

Heck, I missed you. Was watching the Tour De France with DH. Night ML. :bye:

They decided to take it easy on you with it being your first summer. Could you send some of that rain out to West Texas? My dad could really use it. Texas is always feast or famine when it comes to rain.

I remember as a little kid in the 60's, my granddad taking me down to the Concho river in San Angelo and we watched cows and sheep rush by in the water. The flood crest came down so fast, some poor animals couldn't get to high ground in time.

I still have photos of a big rise on the Llano river back in the 1980's that had bridges closed all up and down it. We went to a crossing and the water was so high, it had backed up into the top of a waterfall that was part of a creek that fed into the river at the crossing.

[mrlaugh]

where in west Texas is he? I look at the radar and I see rain all over the place.

not sure what's going on this weekend, might have some people over Saturday night but i'm not convinced it'll actually happen

[SlicKitty]

Well, whatdayaknow? I'm both:
1. up late enough and,
2. home
to post in this thread!



That's all. Carry on.

[mrlaugh]

:bump: last night in my own bed for a while. excited about heading up to Wisconsin tomorrow :whee: be glad to get out of the heat, 90 plus in April FTL :mad:

[Zoe Moon]

The fires in West Texas almost reached my dad's town. At the last minute the wind changed and it burned towards three other towns instead. Over a million acres burned in Texas. I think this is the worst year ever for fires, or at least I don't recall a worse one.

[mrlaugh]

they also said in the paper today that the flow into the lower colorado is less than half of the previous record draught of last 100+ years they have records for... we're getting into more and more watering restrictions, and every piece of ground is completely bone dry and packed hard

[Zoe Moon]

Back in the 50's they had two back to back seven year droughts (with a year of rain in between) and the San Saba river along with a lot of others dried up. There was a very deep hole of water on the San Saba that had a spring in the bottom of it and it was the only part of the San Saba in that area that didn't run dry. All the ranchers in that area had to take their herds to that hole for water each day and that's the only thing that kept a lot of ranchers from loosing their livestock and going bust. This is what my grandfather told me, I wasn't born until the 60's.

He said the ground cracked open so wide in some places that sheep would fall into the cracks and get stuck. They had to check those areas each day to pull out any survivors. Sheep aren't very bright.

It's time for bed. Have a good trip ML. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

g'night Zoe :bye:

headed to bed fairly soon myself, already pretty darn tired and I have to get up a bit earlier for my flight

[mrlaugh]

not sure why I'm still up, but it's definitely time to get at least some sleep. g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:eek: at my parents house, boringness has begun. it's nice to feel cold for a change, I must say :nod: watched the king's speech, my mom had just gotten it on her netflix. pretty good film, I have to say

[Zoe Moon]

We just got it in but with DH's surgery today, we haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

[mrlaugh]

I hadn't even realized it had come out already, glad I saw it.

time for bed, g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

:bye: Night ML. I'm headed to bed too. Night AMT. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

:ninja: boring day, but I did end up going to see the Brewers game with my mom. pretty fun game, although the brewers lost in the 10th inning :doh: I bought my mom's ticket as an early mother's day present for her :whee:

[Zoe Moon]

I spent the day making soft scrambled eggs, jello, custard and champ (mashed potatoes with green onion) for DH. He looks like a chipmunk with those puffy cheeks but hopefully by Monday he'll be well enough to work.

[AggieMom]

Haven't been up this late in a long time. :look:

It was a long day. My sister isn't able to deal with my grandparents as well as I can, so she and her husband hung out with us tonight and danced and had way too much to drink. I quit when I was ahead. I think I'll be the happiest person here tomorrow. Twerps are at Grandpa's house tonight (DH's dad) and my sister and her husband are sleeping upstairs.

Tomorrow will be OK, Monday will suck. Monday we move my grandparents from 2 hrs down the road to 15 min away and a much nicer assisted living.

Kinda pissed at my parents for not stepping up on this one. I shouldn't be surprised, though. They've never been ones to step up to a challenge.

[Zoe Moon]

Haven't been up this late in a long time. :look:

It was a long day. My sister isn't able to deal with my grandparents as well as I can, so she and her husband hung out with us tonight and danced and had way too much to drink. I quit when I was ahead. I think I'll be the happiest person here tomorrow. Twerps are at Grandpa's house tonight (DH's dad) and my sister and her husband are sleeping upstairs.

Tomorrow will be OK, Monday will suck. Monday we move my grandparents from 2 hrs down the road to 15 min away and a much nicer assisted living.

Kinda pissed at my parents for not stepping up on this one. I shouldn't be surprised, though. They've never been ones to step up to a challenge. :hug: Sometimes it sucks having to be the grownup in a family.

[mrlaugh]

Haven't been up this late in a long time. :look:

It was a long day. My sister isn't able to deal with my grandparents as well as I can, so she and her husband hung out with us tonight and danced and had way too much to drink. I quit when I was ahead. I think I'll be the happiest person here tomorrow. Twerps are at Grandpa's house tonight (DH's dad) and my sister and her husband are sleeping upstairs.

Tomorrow will be OK, Monday will suck. Monday we move my grandparents from 2 hrs down the road to 15 min away and a much nicer assisted living.

Kinda pissed at my parents for not stepping up on this one. I shouldn't be surprised, though. They've never been ones to step up to a challenge.

:hug: sorry to hear that. I can't even imagine, all of my grandparents have been fiercely independent, and now that there are some issues, things seem to be handled quite well by everyone involved.

[mrlaugh]

I thought I'd be going to Madison to spend some time with friends either tonight or tomorrow, but now i'm just going out for Tuesday evening and coming back Wednesday morning :doh: I guess nobody felt like putting me up Monday night :doh: so it goes, I guess.

on the positive side, I found out today my relatives are re-gathering tomorrow evening, anyway, so I'll go hang out with them again, that's always reasonably fun

[Zoe Moon]

DH wants to go to work tomorrow but I don't think he'll be able to. He's been in more pain today than he was yesterday. We both hoped he wouldn't have to burn a vacation day on Monday but I think he's going to have to.

[mrlaugh]

:doh: hope he feels better tomorrow.

I'm headed to bed, g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

:bye: Night ML.

[Zoe Moon]

:yawn: Night AMT. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

everybody else is in bed and asleep, one last night at my parent's house :sheep: can't wait to get to Madison tomorrow :whee:

[Zoe Moon]

I'm sitting on the couch watching TV with a sleeping cat snuggled up beside me. :)

[mrlaugh]

:whee:

[Zoe Moon]

BTW ML. I read today on the news that they are expecting 600,000 tourists in London for the royal wedding. Maybe it's a good thing you decided not to go.

[mrlaugh]

I should be more tired. darn old people schedules, I'm not down with being in bed before 11pm :lol:

BTW ML. I read today on the news that they are expecting 600,000 tourists in London for the royal wedding. Maybe it's a good thing you decided not to go.

we would've flown into London but not spent anytime there until Sunday, but yeah, it's probably okay to avoid that headache. I'm just hoping it does happen this fall. I do have more than enough annual leave to burn, I'm already over the max carry over, so I have to use something like 130 hours between now and the end of the year or I just lose it. :eek: I am using 30 hours this week, at least, :whee:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:ninja: in madison, had a.fun evening with my friends. Everybody is asleep already darn early jobs

[Zoe Moon]

I'm surrounded by (2) cats and am watching Firefly. Poor DH is feeling really miserable. I'm worried the area around his sutures might be infected. He thinks his mouth is just raw from the sutures scratching his tongue and cheek.

[nirvinch]

:tumblewed:

[mrlaugh]

:ninja: really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight :woot2:

[Zoe Moon]

:ninja: really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight :woot2:

Just who's bed have you been sleeping in? ;)

[mrlaugh]

:rofl2:

[mrlaugh]

I guess I better get to bed, g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: hard to complain about a 2/3 day of work... so glad I went in late :nod: started at 11 instead of 8. I did mess up, forgot to do laundry, so I had to go in wearing jeans and a polo, not something I try to do when I have people coming over for a meeting :eek: ah well, life goes on. :sheep: 8 hours tomorrow, then a busy weekend, then out of the office all next week :woot2:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

We're still up because DH started hurting again. He's in too much pain to sleep. If he can't get to bed soon, I might just stay up and watch the wedding live.

[mrlaugh]

:ninja: just got back about 15 minutes ago :sheep: Ferguson was very funny, I really enjoyed the show. got a slice of pizza from one of the trailers on sixth on the way back, and just passing the garage walking into my building, some guy on a bike says 'the fire department is about to come, somebody set the woods on fire' I talked to our guy at the front desk, they had already called the fire department, and I could see an orange glow behind the MACC, near the lake. not sure who would do such a thing, in the middle of a drought like we're in that's pretty dangerous :mad: by the time I got up to my unit, a fire engine was going down the street and pulling into the MACC parking lot

[Zoe Moon]

There are a lot of crazies in the world and Austin seems to have more than their fair share. Fortunately most of them are harmless crazies.

[mrlaugh]

indeed. it's good to go out and see sixth street on a Friday / Saturday night once in a while, it's amazing how different my little hood feels, and I'm only 7 blocks away...

[mrlaugh]

definitely past my bed time. tomorrow looks to be a busy day :ohmy: g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

:bye: Night ML. I'm headed that way too. Night AMT. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: been a pretty darn busy day. dragon boat festival, house warming party for two coworkers (married to each other, one house), then spent some time with a bunch of people hanging out with the guy who crashed his bike a few weeks ago.

[Zoe Moon]

I spent the day grocery shopping and cooking meals. I'll gladly trade you. :lol:

[mrlaugh]

:shake: no thanks :lol:
going to take it easy tomorrow, and pack for the trip to Pharr... it's not bad traveling with the state, but I'm not that excited about the idea of Pharr :nono:

anyway, past my bed time again, g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

almost midnight, my time :eek: today has flown by considering I've hardly done anything :lol: I suppose I should pack, getting picked up ~7:45am for the trip to lovely Pharr, TX :doh:

going to be an interesting week, getting back late Thursday

[Zoe Moon]

I would just tell people you're going to McAllen. Only people who are from that area will know where Pharr is. :lol:

[mrlaugh]

in my business everybody says Pharr, because that's where the TxDOT district office is, it's the Pharr district. but, I've never been one to understand TxDOT's district, I still don't understand how Yoakum is a district office, a town so small it's barely even on the a state highway, and not even close to a US Highway

forecast fox says it's light rain in Austin, but I don't see any rain... we missed the rain with the cold front this afternoon :doh: we need the rain! :doh: it was nice, though, to drop from 93 to 63 in about four hours :woot: 61 on my balcony, 52 officially here in Austin right now

[mrlaugh]

I think I'm packed :sheep: don't even have anything to grab from my car at the last minute in the morning :woot:

[Zoe Moon]

in my business everybody says Pharr, because that's where the TxDOT district office is, it's the Pharr district. but, I've never been one to understand TxDOT's district, I still don't understand how Yoakum is a district office, a town so small it's barely even on the a state highway, and not even close to a US Highway

forecast fox says it's light rain in Austin, but I don't see any rain... we missed the rain with the cold front this afternoon :doh: we need the rain! :doh: it was nice, though, to drop from 93 to 63 in about four hours :woot: 61 on my balcony, 52 officially here in Austin right now Depending on how high the clouds are, how light the rain is and how hot the temps are the rain sometimes doesn't make it to the ground. It will evaporate before it ever gets close to the ground. You see that mostly in the hotter months though.

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

so tired.. :faint:

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

past my bed time. today has been a very long day, more than 160 miles in the state van, plus looking at files in the office :woot2: :shake: tomorrow is going to be a long day in a van, again. heading from Pharr up to Zapatta, or however it's spelled :dontknow: I guess there are some projects up that way, almost to Laredo district. :whee:

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

:bye: Night ML. DH is working late again, which is trowing off my PWing schedule. :lol:

We went to an attorney today to get a will set up. Should have done it a long time ago. DH has now decided his days are numbered because in all the scenarios (to explain how things are treated for tax purposes) the attorney put forward, DH died first. And the attorney kept pointing out that statistically men die sooner than women. Poor DH has a complex now. :lol: I had to remind him that he's 10 years younger than me so we'll probably both die at around the same time. That made him feel a little better but didn't help me at all.

I'm headed to bed too. Night AMT. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: it's about that time :sheep: I need to pack, it's my last night in Pharr. one of the guys from Austin said it just right... not bad to visit, but not sure I'd want to stay here :shake: being the cheapest to live metro area in the country isn't a good thing :shake:

we did see one full on customs and border patrol chase, and more law enforcement in one day than I've seen in a single day since I lived in DC :ohmy:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:eek: it got late pretty darn fast. so glad to be home, though. I'd be more glad if I had my sunglasses still :doh: I can't believe I just flat out lost them :dontknow: I don't think I've ever done that before. I'm glad I'm up for new glasses with my insurance, now i need to find a place

[Zoe Moon]

That sucks.You really need them in Texas, here not so much.

[mrlaugh]

That sucks.You really need them in Texas, here not so much.

:iagree:

I think I have my old pair in the car, they shouldn't be too far off. I'll find somebody tomorrow :whee:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

:bye: Me too. Night AMT.

[mrlaugh]

:bump: today has just flown by. got my safety inspection sticker, used my groupon to get the car cleaned, got groceries, had dinner with friends, no complaints as far days off go :nod: I'm hoping it somehow gets cooler tomorrow, the pecan street art festival is tomorrow, but I'm not sure i'm ready to go walk around in 90 degree heat, it wasn't that interesting last year :ermm:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:yawn: been tired all day today, tired and lazy. I think it's the days in the van this week :faint:

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: Sunday nights... doing laundry, talked to the 'rents, attempting to be lazy for a little while longer :nod: already pretty tired :yawn:

I was up at 6:30 and watched the F1 race live, then played tennis at 10. I did get a nap in in the afternoon, though.

going to be a busy week at work, potentially :hide: lots of stuff going on, especially if i go to the meeting Thursday morning in San Antonio

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:
:sleepy:

[nirvinch]

Night mrlaugh and AMT :wave2:

[mrlaugh]

and just like that, it's no longer Monday. days at work have a way of flying by when you've been out for a week. I'm also out of the office tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday morning, and Friday, and Tuesday - Friday next week :lol: going to be a busy period at work

[Zoe Moon]

Reading that made my head hurt. I'm so glad I don't have your job. :lol:

[mrlaugh]

on the positive side of this stretch, the next two days plus most of next week is actually in training classes. I'm in Austin, so there's no travel, I just won't be at my desk much :sheep:

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

That's not so bad then. I thought you were heading off on road trips for all of that. :lol:

It's bedtime. Night ML. :bye: :whee2:

[mrlaugh]

big storm went by this afternoon... lightning, lots of wind,... but it blew by at 40 mph, we only got a trace or rain... still in this massive drought :doh: more rain in the forecast, though, perhaps we'll get above .04" of rain yet this month.

[mrlaugh]

:bump: can't believe another day has blown by. tomorrow is going to be crazy, too. have a meeting in San Antonio at 9am to drive down for, then an eye appointment in the afternoon :sheep:

[Zoe Moon]

My dad was excited to get 0.9" of rain last week. It was the first rain they'd had since Jan. 31.

[mrlaugh]

We've had rain, but it's been less than .1" for at least since mid March now. it did rain some tonight, but again the big storm missed us or went by to fast, there's no way what's out there is measurable :doh:

[mrlaugh]

I'd better get to bed, gotta get up early tomorrow.

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

In Texas with everyone so dependent on lakes, it's also important to get heavy (or soaking) rains on the watersheds for those lakes. My dad gets just as excited when they get a good rain on the watershed as when they do in town.

:bye: Night ML.

[mrlaugh]

it's been a crazy long day :faint: was up early, got to work almost 30 minutes early. drove straight to San Antonio from work, went straight to my meeting without stopping for breakfast like I had hoped I'd have time for :doh: the meeting went way long, too. on the positive side, it was raining off and on on the way down, and the really heavy stuff blew by while I was in the meeting, then it stopped raining about halfway back to Austin. got a good soaking, though, they said 1.5" or more in most areas in San Antonio, at least.

Golfing tomorrow morning, we'll see how wet the course is, probably won't be too bad, I'd think.

[Zoe Moon]

This is nothing scientific or verified but it's always been my impression that San Antonio gets more rain than Austin does. Don't know why that would be or if it's even true. :dontknow:

[mrlaugh]

can't keep my eyes open any more, still have to be up fairly early for our 9:30am tee time.

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: for a Friday day off, today has just flown by. I suppose 4.5 hours golfing will do that, plus being pretty beat up by the sun while doing it, it was a little warm, and the sun was very bright

[Zoe Moon]

Did you score? :bounce:

[mrlaugh]

not well :shake: we were originally expecting more people, but only wound up with 6. I hadn't had a real breakfast, I ate some trail mix while on the course, so I was pretty much out of energy by the 7th hole, and the other guy in my team had five beers... we were soundly beaten by the other team, even using the lowest two scores from each whole to add up.

[Zoe Moon]

Oh well. At least you got some exercise and fresh air. I haven't played golf in years. Seems like every time I did play, it involved wildlife. There were several times where we had to wait for deer to cross the fairway. When I used to go visit my dad when he lived in Florida, I couldn't retrieve balls that went in the water due to the alligators. At the municipal course I used to play on, they had a ground squirrel that was notorious for stealing balls. If the ball landed anywhere near his burrow, he'd run out and grab the ball and haul it home. I lost one to that little rodent. Then a friend teeing off on that same course killed a dove with a worm burner shot off the tee box. She hadn't noticed the birds and I didn't see them until it was too late, she was already on her downswing. :lol:

[mrlaugh]

:ohmy: we had a deer run through the course, as we were moving up after our tee shots on one of the holes. I haven't seen a deer in quite a while, I don't do that much driving outside of the city anymore, and even less during prime deer spotting times (although this was mid-day)

tomorrow is the office picnic, it looks like we'll be lucky, predicted high of 76 :woot2: shouldn't be too warm, which will be nice. I'm on the comittee that runs it, so I have to be there the entire time :doh:

[mrlaugh]

and I need to go vote before the picnic, 3 city council spots up in the election tomorrow

[Zoe Moon]

We're going to run some errands and do a few chores in the morning. I have some strawberry and tomato plants to put in pots. Then we're going to a friends house for a get together.

[Zoe Moon]

:yawn: Night ML. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

it's been another busy but fun day. the company picnic was fun, more fun than I thought it'd be, then I spent some time at a friend's house, which was supposed to be an after party, but everybody else was lame and didn't show up. still, it was good talking to my friend and her husband, at least.

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

Glad you had fun ML. You had a better day than me, which wouldn't be hard btw. I had a terrible migraine, to the point of :vomit:. DH went to the party without me and I'm sitting here with a cat on my lap while watching Doctor Who. The migraine is finally easing up. DH was not too happy with me, I was his designated driver. :rolleye:

[Zoe Moon]

DH went for his first bike ride of the season. I stayed at home and supported him mentally (it's very hilly here) while PWing. :lol:

[mrlaugh]

DH went for his first bike ride of the season. I stayed at home and supported him mentally (it's very hilly here) while PWing. :lol:

:highfive:

it's bike to work week (at least here in Austin, it is) I still haven't gotten around to buying a bike, because I'm a slacker :nod: one of these days, I'll get it done, I hope :eek:

way past my bed time, g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:yawn: so tired. been a busy day at work, and slept like crap last night. tomorrow is the first of 3.5 days of training. the training could be very good, or very bad. I'm not sure what to expect. I'm somewhat worried, it's designed for 20 people, but less than 10 are signed up, I think that may make it worse :eek:

[Zoe Moon]

Usually with less people to ask questions, the training goes by faster. But then I don't know what type of training you're doing.

[mrlaugh]

it's an instructor development course. the first day is supposed to be 15 minute presentations by the participants for the instructors and rest of the class to give each other feedback, then two days of instruction on instruction, lol, then another period for another exercise. at least that was my reading. with less than 10 people, I imagine we'll be done way, way early, or we won't go very late each day :dontknow: I'm not sure what to expect. I am mostly, but not entirely, prepared for my 15 minutes tomorrow. the hardest part was just bringing it down to 15 minutes, we are supposed to take stuff from a course we are teaching or are likely to teach (I have a couple of options, but they're all pretty technical)

[mrlaugh]

so much for going to bed early :doh:

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: another day has flown on by. my class is designed for twelve, but only four people are in it, so it's going by pretty darn quickly, the regular schedule is to be done Friday around noon, but we should be done by the end of the day Thursday instead :whee: had to give a 15 minute presentation today, and have to regive the presentation thursday, adding in the things we've learned in the class in an instructor's checklist. I'm pretty close to ready for the second one, I only have about one or two things to add to mine to cover all the checklist items. :sheep:

[mrlaugh]

I'm not sure if we have any exercises in class tomorrow. I hope we have something to break up the day :eek: could be a challenge staying awake otherwise :whee:

[Zoe Moon]

My day consisted of running errands. Picking up prescriptions, buying stuff at Target, BB&B, etc. Had to buy a snake today as the toilet clogged up. You're jealous of my life, aren't you ML? ;)

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

how is it this late already? days are just completely flying by :eek:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: training got done around 2pm today, so glad it's done, although it was a good class. my final presentation went well, cleaned up some things from the first time around, I didn't get many things to work on from the comments. tomorrow should, I hope, be a quiet day in the office where I can catch up on things

[Zoe Moon]

I went shopping for some clothes. The weather here has been beautiful the last few days. It reminded me why we live here. Got to see the Cascades, Mount Rainier, the Olympics, the sound, space needle, all of it on my drive.

[mrlaugh]

I've had a pretty good headache all day. are people at work messing with me, or is it really a symptom of mold allergies? I have never heard such a thing

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:
'
:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

I've had a pretty good headache all day. are people at work messing with me, or is it really a symptom of mold allergies? I have never heard such a thing Usually you would have some sneezing (or sniffling) too if it were allergies. If there's not any sneezing/sniffling, it could be a sinus headache due to the dry air and/or air pressure changes. I get those and they suck. Every time a storm front rolled in, the pressure change would set it off.

[TheSawg]

Night!

[mrlaugh]

:eek: I just wasted like two hours trying to decide what photo to print with the $10 fp deal for a 24x36 print... it's tough, so many pictures, not sure if my old camera has high enough resolution, a lot of my favorites I've already printed at 8x10 or 11x14. I think I'm down to 6 options, only one is a repeat of something I have printed already.

[mrlaugh]

I should get to bed :nod:

[mrlaugh]

tried a bunch, but only got one decent lightning shot as the storm went by this evening:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/5741718257_a96fe4bf02_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlaugh/5741718257/)
Austin lightning (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlaugh/5741718257/) by mrlaugh (http://www.flickr.com/people/mrlaugh/), on Flickr

[Zoe Moon]

Took the cats to the vet and did some grocery shopping today. Took a walk with DH, who was home before dark for a change. We're debating going to the casino for the super buffet tomorrow or going into Seattle for the Green Festival. Decisions, decisions.

I'm headed that way. Night ML. :bye:

tried a bunch, but only got one decent lightning shot as the storm went by this evening:

[flickr.com (http://slickdeals.net/?&u2=http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlaugh/5741718257/)]
Austin lightning (http://slickdeals.net/?&u2=http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlaugh/5741718257/) [flickr.com (http://slickdeals.net/?&u2=http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlaugh/5741718257/)] by mrlaugh (http://slickdeals.net/?&u2=http://www.flickr.com/people/mrlaugh/) [flickr.com (http://slickdeals.net/?&u2=http://www.flickr.com/people/mrlaugh/)], on Flickr Oooo. That's really cool. I'll look at the rest tomorrow. Headed to bed now.

[mrlaugh]

I'm headed to bed myself. didn't even mean to stay up this late :shake:

tomorrow I need to get into office max to use this 24x36 photo print deal, I have some clothes shopping I could do, then we're getting together for a party at a friend's place, which is either a new sunroom warming party, or an end of the world party, depending on if the rapture happens or not :lol:

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[DNC]

I'm pretty sure midnight was about 2 1/2 hours <--- that way.

[mrlaugh]

:bump: finally just got done watching F1 qualifying. no surprises, really, aside from Heidfeld's fire in practice and him not racing at all :doh: I assume they'll let him in the race on appeal. great job by Petrov to get up to 6th, too :whee:

tomorrow, there's a Ferrari festival at Oasis on Lake Travis, and a F1 watch party of cool river cafe. I might do one or the other or both or none, not quite sure. some of it at least depends on good photo conditions, especially the Ferrari festival.

[mrsjawshewa]

having a cocktail, twitter-baiting the rapture/crapture/snapture-bots and listening to coasttocoastam.com

[mrlaugh]

having a cocktail, twitter-baiting the rapture/crapture/snapture-bots and listening to coasttocoastam.com

I had no idea that show was still going :ohmy: I remember listening to that when I was in high school, and Art Bell having some sort of scare and mysteriously disappearing for a while. :dontknow:

[Zoe Moon]

We went to the farmers market in Redmond today. Got some pickled beats that were really tasty. Also got a couple of plants for the flowerbed. The heavy (for us) snow this winter killed some of our perennials. Stopped by Whole Paycheck for creme brulees and some bagels for the morning F1 race.

Then went out to the casino and hit the surf and turf super buffet. That was the best prime rib I've ever had. :yummy: Let's see, it was salad (like that's going to help :lol:) then lobster tail and prime rib, followed by fried chicken, then steamed clams and mussels and last but not least crab legs. Oh yes, coconut cream pie and cheesecake for dessert. :sick: :lol:

Afterwards we took a drive down some back roads along the river where it nestles up to Mount Si. There are some really pretty houses in that country but also some very scary trailer trash. At one point, I'm pretty sure I heard banjo music. :bigeye:

[Zoe Moon]

:bump: finally just got done watching F1 qualifying. no surprises, really, aside from Heidfeld's fire in practice and him not racing at all :doh: I assume they'll let him in the race on appeal. great job by Petrov to get up to 6th, too :whee:

tomorrow, there's a Ferrari festival at Oasis on Lake Travis, and a F1 watch party of cool river cafe. I might do one or the other or both or none, not quite sure. some of it at least depends on good photo conditions, especially the Ferrari festival. Tough choice. You do get some great sunsets at Oasis. Is the food still bad at Oasis? I haven't been there since probably the mid 90's. But then, I've never been a fan of Cool River either, albeit I'm talking about the CR in Irving. It was always hit and miss on the food and very pricey.

[mrlaugh]

Tough choice. You do get some great sunsets at Oasis. Is the food still bad at Oasis? I haven't been there since probably the mid 90's. But then, I've never been a fan of Cool River either, albeit I'm talking about the CR in Irving. It was always hit and miss on the food and very pricey.

and it's Oasis between 10am and 3pm, on what is supposed to be a humid, sunny, 90 degree day :eek: so it won't be any sunset pictures. I've never been to either, so I really can't say, I only found out about the F1 watch party about a month ago

[Zoe Moon]

and it's Oasis between 10am and 3pm, on what is supposed to be a humid, sunny, 90 degree day :eek: so it won't be any sunset pictures. I've never been to either, so I really can't say, I only found out about the F1 watch party about a month ago Well, Oasis being on the top of the hill and overlooking the lake might help a bit with the humidity and they have tons of umbrellas to sit under.

Cool River is pricey and more stuffy attitude and dress wise. I would imagine this holds true for the Austin one too since it's a chain. It was a place my vendors liked to take us to eat at since they could accommodate large business groups at lunch time.

[mrlaugh]

Well, Oasis being on the top of the hill and overlooking the lake might help a bit with the humidity and they have tons of umbrellas to sit under.

Cool River is pricey and more stuffy attitude and dress wise. I would imagine this holds true for the Austin one too since it's a chain. It was a place my vendors liked to take us to eat at since they could accommodate large business groups at lunch time.

:scratch: :dontknow: I don't know that I'd even go in for food at Oasis, the ferrari festival says it's free admission, I'm not sure exactly what they're doing, or even when the parking is or anything, I guess I'll find out. if it's completely overcast and humid, I doubt I'll go. I'm not a huge Ferrari fan or anything, I just like the idea of taking pictures more than seeing the cars for the sake of seeing the cars.

not sure what the F1 race watch crowd is like. they have pictures with some nice cars parked out front, I wouldn't be surprised to see some yuppie types there, showing off their expensive toys.

[mrlaugh]

can't keep my eyes open, I'm headed to bed. I guess I'll decide what to do tomorrow based on how the weather is shaping up.

g'night Zoe and AMT :bye:


:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

:scratch: :dontknow: I don't know that I'd even go in for food at Oasis, the ferrari festival says it's free admission, I'm not sure exactly what they're doing, or even when the parking is or anything, I guess I'll find out. if it's completely overcast and humid, I doubt I'll go. I'm not a huge Ferrari fan or anything, I just like the idea of taking pictures more than seeing the cars for the sake of seeing the cars.

not sure what the F1 race watch crowd is like. they have pictures with some nice cars parked out front, I wouldn't be surprised to see some yuppie types there, showing off their expensive toys.

There's a local Ferrari club here and they have a meet up almost every weekend that the weather is halfway decent. I think it moves around some. So the Ferrari festival might just be that sort of thing, locals showing off their rides and Oasis advertising it to try to draw in a bigger Sunday crowd. :dontknow:

[mrlaugh]

:sheep: I slept in later than I expected to, my back was feeling pretty stiff and it was overcast and muggy outside, I didn't end up doing either event. didn't much today, although I did make it to target and central market. I have my 24x36 print framed, now i need to decide where I want to put it. I think it looks great framed, I'm quite happy with the results.

[Zoe Moon]

I'm glad the print turned out well.

We went to The Green Festival in Seattle. It was very interesting, some good info and of course lots of free goodies. It more than paid for itself. Got home, had a nice dinner of brisket with creme brulee for desert.

[mrlaugh]

darn Sunday nights, I always put off everything, then struggle to get it all done Sunday evening. I'm pretty sure I didn't mean to stay up this late, but so it goes. at least I got a nap in this afternoon :sheep:

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: I did not expect Monday to fly by quite so fast :eek: work positively flew by, especially considering how badly I woke up, I was not ready to get out of bed to go and get the bus to work :shake: I set up my trip to Vegas, training there June 21st and 22nd, have to fly out the day before and return the day after. I'm excited about the class, and I'm hoping to see people I used to work with there, but other than that I could care less about it being in Vegas, I'm not in any hurry to go back, really. I don't think I'll have time to go out and see the new bridge, either :doh: as much as I'd like to.

[Zoe Moon]

We had leftover brisket then watched House. I think it's safe to say the show jumped the shark with tonight's episode.

[mrlaugh]

I haven't watched yet. I've had some doubts about the whole darn season, though :dontknow:

I'm headed to bed, g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

Night ML. I'm headed to bed too. Night AMT. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: somehow, it's already about that time, late nighter's

[Zoe Moon]

My 17 year old cat is very sick. She has a bladder infection but the vet is worried there's more to it than that as she hasn't responded yet to the antibiotics. If she's not better by tomorrow, the vet wants to do an ultrasound. I think she thinks it might be cancer in the kidneys and/or bladder. :(

[mrlaugh]

sorry to hear that Zoe :hug:

[Zoe Moon]

Well, about 3.5 hours after tonights pill, she suddenly perked up. She lifted her head and looked around with some interest. She finally got up, ate some food and had a small amount of water. Baby steps but I'll take baby steps over lethargic any day. Maybe she just needed more time on the antibiotics. :woot:

[mrlaugh]

good luck :nod:

bed time for me. later than I meant, but earlier than normal, lately.

g'night AMT and Zoe :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

It's about that time for me too. Night ML. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: yep, it's late again :eek:

[Zoe Moon]

:bigeye: How did that happen?

[Zoe Moon]

Very tired and sore. My back went out today and just won't pop back into place. I'm looking forward to bed and a flexeril tablet to fix my back.

The cat is finally eating and drinking water again. Even though she perked up last night and ate a little, she wouldn't drink any water, which had me worried. But this morning she was much better, ate her share of the cat food and drank some water. I guess she just needed more time on the antibiotic than the vet anticipated she would need before she felt better.

Night ML. I'm headed to bed. :bye:

[Zoe Moon]

Oh btw, how are you doing with the headaches? Have they eased up any? I was reading the Texas news today and one article mentioned it's ragweed season. You might be allergic to that. Don't know if Vegas would have much ragweed since it's so dry there.

[mrlaugh]

g'night Zoe and AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

Oh btw, how are you doing with the headaches? Have they eased up any? I was reading the Texas news today and one article mentioned it's ragweed season. You might be allergic to that. Don't know if Vegas would have much ragweed since it's so dry there.

it's not been around lately, I had kind of forgotten about it. Vegas has very few allergies ever, and especially few in June. Basically anything that can flower and produce pollen does so between January and March, by June everything is either dormant or dead :lol:

In Vegas it's the dust that gets to me. not to be disgusting, but it messes with my nose, get crazy snot some days :lmao:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:


:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: been a pretty busy day. worked until 5, had dinner with some friends at an italian place on southwest parkway. don't think I've ever been in the area before. the food was pretty good, at least :yummy:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

I'm still trying to figure out what we're going to do this weekend. Left it kind of late but with it being a holiday weekend, we don't want to go to the islands as the ferries (and everything else) will be packed. So we're doing a day trip to a winery or two, either Saturday or Sunday. Just have to figure out which direction and which wineries. There's only 600+ wineries in WA state. :eek: :lol:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: went to buffalo wild wings to watch the UFC pay per view event. $5 cover, and even with four fights, it was barely worth it. none of them were very good fights :shake: nothing all that interesting, lots of decisions after 3 full rounds.

supposed to play tennis at 9am tomorrow, hopefully it won't be too hot by then. it hit 100 today in Austin :ohmy: only supposed to be 98 tomorrow :hide:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

Don't know if you watched F1 qualifying but it was a bit of a mess. I'm not happy about what it did to Hamilton's position in the race. Thankfully Perez is going to be ok, that looked really bad.

[TheSawg]

Bah! Been forgetting about F1 at all this season. Wow, I am behind. :)

[mrlaugh]

:bump: it's about that time. it's been a solid day. played some tennis at 9am, only about 80 outside, but it was still fairly humid. wind was also messing with my shots. I played somebody new today, he's rusty, but definitely better than the person I normally play. I haven't had to play against that kind of pace in a long time. it was a good challenge, I hope I can keep up with him as he gets back into form :lol:

[Zoe Moon]

We had planned to take a scenic drive through Mount Rainier National Park to Yakima to visit a couple of wineries but this morning we were feeling lazy. So we went this afternoon to Redhook Brewery in Woodinville for lunch. DH did a beer tasting. I'm not a big fan of their beers, not even the dark one. Give me a well pulled Guinness any day over that. We didn't do the tour as the place was packed and again, we were being lazy. :lol: It was crowded too and the food wasn't very good. Don't think we'll go again. Might do the Yakima trip in a couple of weeks.

[mrlaugh]

:highfive: lazy is good sometimes :D

I was driving back from playing tennis, right around 10am, and there was already a line 10 people deep at Franklin's barbeque on east 11th. supposed to be the best downtown or near downtown, they start selling at noon and sell until they sell out, so people start lining up early, I've heard people have stood in line for as much as three hours to get some. :ohmy: it just can't be worth it :shake: I don't see how any bbq could be worth putting up a morning where it's 80 degrees, humid, sunny and getting hotter by the second. maybe they're so delirious from heat exhaustion by the time they get food it just seems so much better? :dontknow:

[Zoe Moon]

:highfive: lazy is good sometimes :D

I was driving back from playing tennis, right around 10am, and there was already a line 10 people deep at Franklin's barbeque on east 11th. supposed to be the best downtown or near downtown, they start selling at noon and sell until they sell out, so people start lining up early, I've heard people have stood in line for as much as three hours to get some. :ohmy: it just can't be worth it :shake: I don't see how any bbq could be worth putting up a morning where it's 80 degrees, humid, sunny and getting hotter by the second. maybe they're so delirious from heat exhaustion by the time they get food it just seems so much better? :dontknow:

I can believe it. They line up like that at Coopers in Llano but the original Coopers in Mason (they're owned by different people) is better, yet they don't have the same lines. I think it's all the out of state residents (aka: yankees) who read a review of Coopers in Llano and think it's the place to go.

Night ML. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

g'night Zoe :bye:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

:look:

[DNC]

Hi thread.

[Zoe Moon]

:annoyed: I have some weird skin allergy thing going on tonight, my ears and neck are bright red. Had to get up out of bed and take a benadryl. Just waiting for it to calm down so I can go back to sleep.

[DNC]

Sounds like a dihydrogen monoxide allergy. Cut it from your diet for two weeks and you shouldn't see any more symptoms.

[Zoe Moon]

Sounds like a dihydrogen monoxide allergy. Cut it from your diet for two weeks and you shouldn't see any more symptoms. Yeah, I hear that stuff can kill you. I signed the petition! :whee:

[mrlaugh]

:eek: another light bulb went out in the bathroom tonight. I haven't managed to replace the first one that went out last week yet :doh: I haven't looked to see what this bulb is, I'm holding out hope for something normal I don't have to fork over $$$ to the HOA for (the first, a recessed CFL, has a matched balance, it's not worth the trouble to track it down when I can just get the right thing the first time from the HOA). I only have four bulbs in the bathroom, at this rate I'll be showering in the dark next week :ohmy:

been a pretty busy day, and now it's time for bed, g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: another day has flown by :eek: I was supposed to leave work at 5, was 5:30 by the time I left :doh: not that it was any cooler outside, either :mad: it's already crazy hot, I am NOT looking forward to July and August in this town. at least it's been drier this year than last year, I'll take 95 and 30% humidity over 85 and 70% humidity

[mrlaugh]

:tumblewed:

[Zoe Moon]

:wave2:

Just sitting here thinking I should go to bed but I'm too lazy too move. We have an appointment with the lawyer tomorrow to sign our will. It took 10 years of fussing at DH to get him to do this. He's of the mindset that if you don't think about it, you'll never have to face up to your mortality. :lol:

[mrlaugh]

:doh:

at this point, I really don't care who gets what piece of me after I'm dead :lol: it's quite easy having no dependents and being single.

as of yesterday, my second mortgage should be paid off :woot::yahoo::highfive: no more dealings with IBC :woot2: starting in July, I think I'll start paying off my student loans faster. no need to actually stretch that out to 15 years, especially since the 15 year payment is a lousy $114 a month, surely I can afford more with the second mortgage payment no longer over my head :nod:

[Zoe Moon]

:doh:

at this point, I really don't care who gets what piece of me after I'm dead :lol: it's quite easy having no dependents and being single.

as of yesterday, my second mortgage should be paid off :woot::yahoo::highfive: no more dealings with IBC :woot2: starting in July, I think I'll start paying off my student loans faster. no need to actually stretch that out to 15 years, especially since the 15 year payment is a lousy $114 a month, surely I can afford more with the second mortgage payment no longer over my head :nod: :woot:

We're thinking about driving out to Mount Rainier and Yakama if the weather is good this weekend. Or we might just use our default plan and be lazy bums. :lol:

[mrlaugh]

I have another 3 day weekend, but no specific plans. it's supposed to continue to be in the high 90s in Austin with little chance of rain, I can't do much more than hide inside anymore. I do have a new computer case and power supply, I could finally get around to moving my computer into the new case, and maybe rebuilding my old machine and trying to set that up :dontknow:

[mrlaugh]

g'night Zoe / AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[serra]

g'night Zoe / AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:
haven't hugged you in a long time...

:hug:

Just sitting here thinking I should go to bed but I'm too lazy too move.
me too, lol

[Zoe Moon]

I have another 3 day weekend, but no specific plans. it's supposed to continue to be in the high 90s in Austin with little chance of rain, I can't do much more than hide inside anymore. I do have a new computer case and power supply, I could finally get around to moving my computer into the new case, and maybe rebuilding my old machine and trying to set that up :dontknow: Best thing you can do is go out in the heat and let your body get acclimated to it. Also keep your thermostat set so it's not too cool in your house. Otherwise you'll wind up spending all summer inside and going outside will be a misery. :nod:




me too, lol:yawn: :bye:

[mrlaugh]

haven't hugged you in a long time...

:hug:


me too, lol

:hug:

I never leave my threads :lol: :shake: well, hardly ever, anyway :whee:


been a pretty busy day, had a conference call much of the morning, then drove to San Antonio and back for a meeting in the afternoon. got stuck in seriously awful traffic coming back into Austin at 5:45pm. then I had two phone messages and some emails that had to be worked on, it was 6:45 when I left the office, despite technically being done at 5:30 :doh:

at least I have tomorrow off :woot: although on Sunday I have to drive to Houston for a Monday morning meeting :doh:

[mrlaugh]

definitely can't keep my eyes open anymore, not sure how I've even made it this late. g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: today has flown by, especially for a day off. got my car serviced, grocery shopping, and found out the HOA lost my order for a filter and light bulb, and then they gave me a lightbulb, but it was the wrong size. I also bought another bulb at home depot, so after nearly a week with two of the four bulbs in my bathroom, I'm back to the proper number of lights. now it seems super bright in there :lol:

[Zoe Moon]

DH wants to use lower wattage bulbs than what the fixtures call for. It annoys the heck out of me, especially in the bathroom where I can't see clearly enough to put on makeup. I think I'm going to replace those bulbs one by one. If he catches on, I'm going to deny everything of course. :evillaf:

[Zoe Moon]

:bye: Night AMT.

[mrlaugh]

DH wants to use lower wattage bulbs than what the fixtures call for. It annoys the heck out of me, especially in the bathroom where I can't see clearly enough to put on makeup. I think I'm going to replace those bulbs one by one. If he catches on, I'm going to deny everything of course. :evillaf:

the wrong bulb they gave me was a 13watt CFL, the right one is 26 watts. for some reason, the 13 didn't even stay plugged in (it's a 4-pin electronic ballast light, not a normal screw in base). the 26 watt bulb warms up really, really slowly. 13 would probably be plenty, it's directly over the bath, it's not like it's lighting that big of an area. the other bulb I replaced, the weird t-10 shape, the new one is noticeably brighter than the old one, I'm trying to decide if I want to go ahead and replace it or not. I did buy a second one, so I do have a replacement handy, but I'll probably just wait for it to die. I wonder if there's a CFL bulb that will fit inside the vanity light, I'm not sure how much space there is beyond the T-10 shape size.

it's definitely good to have all four bulbs working, with only two of the four it was getting pretty dark, especially with my dark shower curtain and the light over the shower out :lol:

anyway, bed time for me, g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: Saturday night :whee: I am in now way ready to leave for Houston tomorrow. haven't packed a thing. doesn't matter too much, it doesn't really matter when I get there, just for my Monday morning meeting. any time after hotel check in is fine

[Zoe Moon]

We didn't make it to Mount Rainier and Yakima today. We stayed home and worked on the house. Then went to the plant nursery and Lowes. DH spent most of the late afternoon powerwashing the back patio to get the weeds out of the cracks between the pavers, so he can fill the cracks with sand. It seems like the to do list for the house never gets smaller, no matter how much we do.

[mrlaugh]

We didn't make it to Mount Rainier and Yakima today. We stayed home and worked on the house. Then went to the plant nursery and Lowes. DH spent most of the late afternoon powerwashing the back patio to get the weeds out of the cracks between the pavers, so he can fill the cracks with sand. It seems like the to do list for the house never gets smaller, no matter how much we do.

that's why I didn't buy a house. especially at this stage of my life, single, making reasonably good money, I am just not the weekend project type of guy, for me, the HOA fee, even at $270/month, is totally worth it :nod:

[Zoe Moon]

that's why I didn't buy a house. especially at this stage of my life, single, making reasonably good money, I am just not the weekend project type of guy, for me, the HOA fee, even at $270/month, is totally worth it :nod: Not every house needs as much work as ours does. It came down to a house without much personality that was completely updated (and $70k more) or a house that needed a lot of updates and fixes both inside and out. We went with the cheaper fixer-uper but haven't had as much time to work on it as we thought we'd have.

Plus there's a lot of extra maintenance due to the moisture here. DH has to rake the yard with this special roller blade rake to pull the moss out of the grass several times each year. We also have to have the roof and gutters cleared of moss twice a year. Stuff like that.

[mrlaugh]

there's always something to do on a house, regular maintenance that needs to be done, it's just such a shorter list for my condo, and it'll be years before I'll need to think about updating or remodeling anything given that it's only a bit over 3 years old anyway

[Zoe Moon]

there's always something to do on a house, regular maintenance that needs to be done, it's just such a shorter list for my condo, and it'll be years before I'll need to think about updating or remodeling anything given that it's only a bit over 3 years old anyway Yeah, I agree. With your situation, the condo is a good fit. We mainly went with the fixer upper as we felt we could add value to the house and come out ahead when we go to resell it. We have to have a house as we have too much stuff! :lol:

Time for bed. Night ML. Have fun in Houston. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

bed time for me, g'ngiht Zoe and AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:look:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

it's about that time :eek:

in a strange twist, I have tomorrow off from work. normally I have every other friday off, but I'm booked every day next week, and in training Thursday and Friday this week. tomorrow was literally the only time I could take to get my hours down to 80 hours for the pay period. too much going on these weeks :faint:

[Zoe Moon]

It sucks that you can't save those days up and take them all at once for extra vacation weeks.

[mrlaugh]

It sucks that you can't save those days up and take them all at once for extra vacation weeks.

and in fact that's gotten worse, not better, in the last month. by federal accounting rules, if I received comp time for travel outside of my normal hours, the agency has to set aside in its budget the cash to pay me that time in case I don't use the hours within a year. with the stimulus going, we have been using quite a bit of comp time in the past two years, and it has impacted our budget. so as of about two weeks ago, we have been told to 'maximize scheduling flexibilities' - which is to say, within a pay period, 80 hours is it and no comp time will be approved for Monday - Friday work. I did hit the one except already, though... for a Monday morning meeting at 9am in Houston, I was given comp time for driving to Houston Sunday afternoon, since I can't schedule weekend regular hours without differential pay. then I wound up with this very strange 8am to 6:45pm schedule on Monday to account for the meetings and the drive back, and something similar for Thursday and Friday to go to meetings in San Marcos.

I can't really complain, though, at the end of the day they're limiting us to 80 hours, and although I am likely to go over here and there, I know have the flexibility to adjust my time much more than I did 6 months ago within the pay period, and in any case it's not like working for a private consultant, where 45 billable hours per week is the expectation, if not the hard and fast rule.

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

spending the next day and a half in San Marcos taking a training class :sheep: gotta leave early and get back late :doh: better get to sleep, g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:ninja: been a busy, long day. left home at 7am, got picked up by my coworker. got down to San Marcos, found parking, had to walk all the way up that damn hill to the building and classroom site. we got done just a bit after 5pm, and it was 6pm when he dropped me off again. I had dinner, caught a very brief nap, then met someone to play tennis at 8pm. the court had lights, although we really didn't need them until after 8:30. it was pretty warm, still 94, but it wasn't that humid today, and without the sun beating on you it didn't feel bad at all, really. I think I finally found a part of my tennis game that's better than his, my serve. I can hit a flat serve with pretty high speed, and I was also landed a few spin serves, which I don't think he was prepared for at all :lol: he definitely doesn't hit his serve nearly as hard. it's the complete opposite on ground strokes, especially forehands, he has a very good, mostly consistent topspin forehand which I just can't reliably do.

[Zoe Moon]

:ninja: been a busy, long day. left home at 7am, got picked up by my coworker. got down to San Marcos, found parking, had to walk all the way up that damn hill to the building and classroom site. we got done just a bit after 5pm, and it was 6pm when he dropped me off again. I had dinner, caught a very brief nap, then met someone to play tennis at 8pm. the court had lights, although we really didn't need them until after 8:30. it was pretty warm, still 94, but it wasn't that humid today, and without the sun beating on you it didn't feel bad at all, really. I think I finally found a part of my tennis game that's better than his, my serve. I can hit a flat serve with pretty high speed, and I was also landed a few spin serves, which I don't think he was prepared for at all :lol: he definitely doesn't hit his serve nearly as hard. it's the complete opposite on ground strokes, especially forehands, he has a very good, mostly consistent topspin forehand which I just can't reliably do. My grandfather was tennis mad, he built his own tennis court, won lots of (small town) trophies and played every chance he got. But none of his kids or grand-kids inherited that gene, we all sucked at tennis. :lol:

[mrlaugh]

:lol: I can't picture, nor have I ever seen, my grand parents playing any sports :shake: pretty much the same for my parents. my family isn't really the outdoors active type, never went camping, never went hunting, doesn't really care about sports. I don't know where I picked it up from :lol: it might explain why I don't really get some of the mainstream sports, though, I could care less about football, I played soccer when I was little and tennis through high school, and picked up ultimate frisbee late in my college years.

[Zoe Moon]

Coming from a ranching family, we did lots of outdoors stuff. I fished, hunted (deer, dove, quail), rode horses, swam in stock tanks, etc. On the downside, feeding cattle (during the winter) and mending fences is not so much fun. But none of us grand-kids were very good at organized sports where you played with others.

[mrlaugh]

I'm a city kid, through and through :lol: I get nervous if I'm in a town of less than 250k :lol:

[Zoe Moon]

I'm a city kid, through and through :lol: I get nervous if I'm in a town of less than 250k :lol: :lol: My grand-father went to a one room schoolhouse and rode his hose to school. The biggest town near him only had about 30 people in it and the post office, grocery store and gas station were all in the only building in town with one guy working there. I guess we're hicks. :lol:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:
'
:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

it's gotten late in a hurry :eek: busy day again. I was back from San Marcos by 2pm, and supposedly off work at 2:30, but it was after 4:30 by the time I actually managed to leave

[Zoe Moon]

When DH got home from work, he said he'd like to get up early and go for Dim Sum in the morning. I said that's fine but we'd have to go to bed early and he agreed. Now it's 10:30 and I can't get him to go to bed. :annoyed:

[Zoe Moon]

Well, looks like we might be in bed for 11:15. I don't see us getting up in time for Dim Sum. If you're not in line before 10:30 when the doors open, you won't get a seat and will have to wait for people to eat and leave and none of them are in a hurry when it's Dim Sum.

:bye: Night AMT.

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT and Zoe :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: it's been an odd sort of evening. went to roller derby with people from work. I didn't find it to be that interesting. between matches, one of the couples the wife stormed off, then the other left, and they were not seen again. it got done at 9pm, with ROT happening around us in downtown, and most of the people went back to their cars to flee back to the suburbs. another couple had parked near me, but one of them decided they'd rather wander sixth street than have a drink with me at the bars near my place, within 500 feet of where they parked :dontknow: my back is still pretty sore, I didn't really feel like walking around the extra packed sixth street, so I walked back, got a taco at the mexican place, and was home by 10 :doh: not sure what to make of the evening. I probably should have gone to the F1 meet and greet, even though I didn't know anybody out there.

[Zoe Moon]

Not that you asked my opinion but it sounds like you need to make some friends outside of work.

We went for Dim Sum but discovered today you can go too early. We were there at 10:30 and they only had two carts going around slowly with not a big variety of foods on them. Which meant we didn't get our favorites, the BBQ ribs, Honey Walnut Shrimp and Taro Balls. But still what we had was really tasty and we did get to try one new (to us) dish. Then as we were paying up and the restaurant had filled up more, the carts came by with our faves. :doh:

Afterwards we drove into Seattle proper and went to Half Price Books because we couldn't remember the way to Elliot Bay Books and my GPS didn't have Elliot's listed. :annoyed: But I got a copy of The Hobbit at Half Price so it worked out. I realized it's been almost 35 years :eek: since I read it so wanted to read it again before the movies come out.

[mrlaugh]

oh, I wouldn't argue with that. it doesn't help that I knew two people before I moved here, it was pretty easy to fall into that social circle. the one no longer works with us and is kind of in and kind of out of the work social scene, and I'm better friends with her anyway, but she's also married and pregnant, so that's not quite the same as the work crowd, the regulars are split between singles and couples, but no kids, yet...

I did look up some stuff on tennis lessons the other day, it seems like one of the tennis centers has a Thursday evening session for fairly low level players, that might work, and maybe I'd meet some new people that way

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

:bye: Night ML. DH is watching LeMans so it may be a while before we get to bed. I'm excited that F1 is at a daylight time for us this race. :woot:

[mrlaugh]

darn Sunday nights, they just fly by without you noticing....

hello and g'night, AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[lovelyssm]

ETrade baby...the True story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4hfdaC7eL4&

[mrlaugh]

:bump: it's been a crazy busy day, I was only in the office for about 2.5 hours today, and I won't be back in again this week, I've got a conference that's in town that I get to attend :whee: I'm looking forward to it, going to be a bunch of people I know flying in for the meetings.

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

Sounds like fun ML. :woot: My day will be equally exciting. I have to go pick up the cats medicine, get groceries and deposit a check in the bank. :yawn: <--- See, exciting.

Time for bed. Night ML, night AMT. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: had day one of the conference today. it was pretty good. don't feel like i heard that much that was 'new' today, but that's okay, it's good to get some face to face time with my colleagues and hear news on what's going on in other places. had dinner with some other agency folks downtown, and went and saw the bats with them after dinner. not a bad day, really. topped it off by watching the Stewart vs. Hamilton seat swap, which was moderately entertaining given that it was raining and cold at Watkins Glen and neither could really open up their own cars, let alone the swapped rides :doh:

[Zoe Moon]

It's been a cold day here. Had to wear a sweater when I went out. Lots of people were wearing fleeces or light jackets. It's crazy this year due to El Nino. There was a momma and baby bear sighting a week or so ago about a half mile (less as the crow flies)from the house. All the berries are very late due to the cold rainy weather. Which means the bears are waking up and there's not enough food for them, so they wander out of the forest looking for food.

[mrlaugh]

I do believe today was Austin's 9th day officially above 100 this year :faint: tomorrow's forecast only says 96, but I'm not sure I believe it, then 102 for Thursday. it is going to be a hot, hot, hot summer :ohmy: I'm starting to think buying a scooter might be a good investment, i can park in the extra space in the basement garage at work, and I won't have to spend the 20 minutes getting fried on the walk home every day :scratch:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: been another busy day with the conferencing. :whee: technically two conferences. the second is much smaller, but goes from this afternoon through noon Friday. Had dinner with agency folks again, this time at Iron Works BBQ up the street :whee:

[mrlaugh]

not sure what to do about trying to fly to Wisconsin. not convinced I want to go camping, anyway, and now I have a coworker who wants me to go with her to Dallas for her district review the last few days I would have been in Wisconsin for :dontknow:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

A few days in Dallas without having to work, might be fun. Lots of stuff to do there.

Night AMT. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

:look: got through another day of conferencing. was interesting, although I was really struggling to stay awake at times, it's been a long busy week. half day of conference left at this point :whee:

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:look:

[mrlaugh]

not very busy around here :ohmy:

[mrlaugh]

I should get to bed, g'night AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[mrlaugh]

:look: anybody around tonight?

[mrlaugh]

:yep, slow again

[mrlaugh]

g'night slow AMT :bye:

:yawn:

:sleepy:

[DNC]

Oh hai thread of after midnight people.

[mrlaugh]

:look: all out of Sunday :doh:

[Zoe Moon]

Lousy weekend, rainy and cold. The heater even kicked in today. Could be worse though, my dad played golf in 108 degree heat. :faint:

[mrlaugh]

Lousy weekend, rainy and cold. The heater even kicked in today. Could be worse though, my dad played golf in 108 degree heat. :faint:

:iagree: topped out at 105 in Austin yesterday, crazy hot. although, it's rained so little this spring, we've been having humidity around 40% or less, and some days under 30%, so it's been quite dry, which is not bad at all. not quite as dry as Vegas, but still fairly dry. I only went out to buy a suit today, otherwise I spent the weekend in catching up on TV and trying to take my mind off things.

Have to work tomorrow, don't know how much I'll actually get done, though :doh: got a flight early Tuesday morning to Wisconsin.

[mrlaugh]

g'night AMT :bye:


:yawn:

:sleepy:

[Zoe Moon]

:iagree: topped out at 105 in Austin yesterday, crazy hot. although, it's rained so little this spring, we've been having humidity around 40% or less, and some days under 30%, so it's been quite dry, which is not bad at all. not quite as dry as Vegas, but still fairly dry. I only went out to buy a suit today, otherwise I spent the weekend in catching up on TV and trying to take my mind off things.

Have to work tomorrow, don't know how much I'll actually get done, though :doh: got a flight early Tuesday morning to Wisconsin.Yeah, dad has had 2 1/2 inches of rain for all of 20011 and no precipitation at all for over a month now. I think this is as close to the terrible drought in the 1950's as Texas has come since then. There have been some other droughts since then but none as bad as this that I can recall.

:yawn: Night ML. Night AMT. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

the paper said the inflows to the colorado river is the lowest ever recorded :eek: and the paper today said 98% of Texas is in some sort of drought stage :eek:

[mrlaugh]

:bump: it's about that time. I need to get to sleep soonish, I have to be up ~4:30, I'd like to be at the airport around 5 for my 6:20 flight. darn early flights :eek:

[mrlaugh]

http://www.wisn.com/video/28300869/detail.html

next door to where I grew up.... I see the pavement only looks worse since I was last through :whee:

[mrlaugh]

I'm supposed to be up in four hours... figure I should get up at 4:30, try to be out the door by 4:45, at the airport just after 5, should have about an hour before take off after I'm through security for my 6:20am flight :whee:

[Zoe Moon]

We'll keep the light on while you're gone. Have a safe trip. :hug: :bye:

I'm headed to bed. Night ML. :bye:

[mrlaugh]

The suns isn't up yet, about to posh back from the gate on my flight to denver connecting to milwaukee :bye: