Nick Postagulous
Friday, June 25, 2004
I Can't Believe I'm About To Write About Michael Moore
But something is fishy here. Though Mike thinks he's the Rush Limbaugh of the Left, just as Al Franken does, I'm not so sure that the Left wants him representing him. A few weeks ago, Fox news did the odd and recommended that every American go see Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. And we all know that Fox is Conservative, but they are encouraging people to see an Anti-Bush film. Well, then the more odd comes about, and the picture actually completes itself. Slate.com, the quite left but also well written MSN property, has written a totally scathing review of the film. They claim that Moore is full of lies.
Now, why would the left try to distance themselves from Moore and the right encourage you to see his movie? Because it is full of lies and will scare normal people away from the Democratic party. That's the motivation for both. Moore is a menace to the left. He's taken all the Bush hating arguments and presented them so rapid fire that the contradictions are so evident. Meanwhile, smarter conservatives want the public to see this and be disgusted by the left.
Read the review if you want to. Christopher Hitchens is a very smart leftie. And he gets my respect for that. (Also, Slate rocks, as it will say the unabashed truth about things when others wont...oddly, like Rush.)
Disclaimer: Nick would vote libertarian if it wasn't throwing his vote away, but you never see any Hawks in the libertarian party, so maybe not. But please, don't make laws we don't need. Dur.
Coolness Coolness!!
Years ago, when I first bought my computer in 1991, I got a $30 offer to get my own handwriting converted to a truetype font. Well, I decided to see how much that kind of stuff costs, and the #1 google hit is Fontifier. For $9! Woot!
Now, if they are really going to have my handwriting correct, they'd have to have the way I make "th" into one letter that looks like a wide capital R of sorts.
Also, you know those little doodles I make and then scan in so they are really large...yeah...I could do that into a font. Groovy.
(Low priority yes, but I will do it.)
Oh, and I really miss the soft drink Josta.
Help, I've Fallen And I Can't Get Up
Well, Alison's mom had a "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up" moment yesterday. She was sorting out old magazines that she had stored and was getting rid of some of them. The phone rang and when she was going to get it, she slipped on one of the magazine stacks and, somehow, broke her foot in several places. It hurt so bad and swole up so much that she dragged herself into the kitchen and cut her painfully constricting sock off with a steak knife.
Tom got there around the same time that Alison and I did. Tom and I carried her to her car, after she protested loudly that I'd hurt my back, right, as if she weighs anything at all. Alison and Tom went with her to the ER and I went on home. Alison got home at 1:30 am.
They didn't do surgery on Alison's mom's foot yet, because they couldn't get a surgeon in the middle of the night. So, I guess Alison is taking today off to take her mom around to doctors and such.
I guess this makes Leeann's visit her more work than originally expected. Leeann is showing up on the 8th of July and staying until the 20th or so. Alison's Mom has to be moved out of her current house by the end of July. She'll more than likely move into Sunlake Apartments for about two months or so, and then she'll be able to move into her new house that's being built. However, this moving will happen while she has a 1 month healed up broken foot. We'll see how that goes.
I told Alison last night, once we get back from China, her main priority is our daughter. Not her mom. Not her mom's moving. Pei Xi is going to have a hard transition to living over here. She's had a rough year 1. And we need to make sure we make up for lost time, not just as far as language, but also making sure that she's got good attachments.
More Messed Up Than That
There is a guy at my work, and let's just call him P1, who is deaf in one ear now. That's not the big deal. The big deal is that he has some kind of non-malignant growth inside his head that, in my opinion, sure has grown a lot. I heard from T-boss today that they went in and found that it has fingers of itself spreading all through the inside of his skull, but mostly from his ear area forward into his face. They closed his head back up without doing anything.
But then he (according to my boss) started leaking spinal fluid out of his nose. Ok, I'm thinking maybe T-boss might be wrong on this, considering he was also talking about a breakfast burrito he had with adobe added. That's be one pasty, or maybe very crunchy, burrito.
Well, P1 is going to have to have the surgery. We'll see how this goes.
Yet Another Surgery Needed That Hasn't Happened
TC got a call from one of his childhood friends who he keeps in touch with. The guy's dog, a dachshund, has a slipped disk and needs surgery. TC said for some reason, and totally inappropriately, he found the situation funny. TC couldn't help laughing when his friend said that the doctor had said, "The next 48 hours are going to be very important to this little dog." TC is supposed t visit his friend this weekend. He invited him over so he could "make fun of [his] dog."
Meanwhile...
Oh, and I still haven't mailed the VHS of that Chinese Adoption National Geographic show to the lady in England. And I still need to put up the kiddie gates on the stairs. And I need to put in the ceiling fan that I stupidly took out of the box and spread all over the floor in Pei Xi's room.
We leave Wednesday. But starting this weekend, I'm going to see how much I can start skewing my sleep times so the Jetlag will be less.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Neato!
Not only does the Wonderfalls DVD now have the release date of December 17, but the entire 13 episodes will be aired on Mundo Fox down in Argentina and probably floated into the internet, but really, I'll wait for the DVD set like I did for Firefly.
What is it with Fox and it's cancelled shows and me having to buy them on DVD? Also, they have an Invader Zim DVD at Amazon. But you have to remember with Zim that the episodes were 10 minutes long and they aired two per 30 min, so not so much product there.
Hee hee
Next Friday, we'll be in Hong Kong. Same with Saturday. And although I'd love to see Spiderman there at the Kowloon Bay Cenima, I think I'd like to see Harry Potter again, since then I at least would know what was going on. Unless, of course, they aren't dubbed. If it's in English with subtitles, then that would ROCK!!! But how do I say Spiderman in Chinese?
Shiny Floors Aren't All Good
As a person who tends to pick up on random things out of the corner of my eye, and has terrific peripheral vision (to a fault), I sure would wish that they'd stop shining up the tile flooring in the bathroom.
So, let's say I'm sitting in the handicapped stall, which really is the luxury stall as far as public bathrooms go, and someone walks in the door. I can tell who it is by their reflection. Now, that means, that if they pay enough attention, they could see me sitting there in the reflection. Not my favorite thing.
I am also not a Bathroom Talker. The people we have here that are former military, they are Bathroom Talkers. They'll just chat away as their letting fly their waste products. I'm sorry, but for me, it's a private moment. I mean, it's doodoo. Let's not chat while I poop, ok?
I'm Going To Buy A Saw
How grown up of me. I already have tools, so I'm pretty much a grown up anyway, and being 35 kind of lumps me in with the old people anyway. But I've never owned a power saw at all. I actually do have Alison's mom's old dead electric chainsaw in the garage, and I need to look at that, but that's not the kind of saw I need.
I order to put up the safety gates around the stairs, and that alone ages me, I need to cut some one by fours to certain lengths. Granted, I could go to Home d'Epot and tell them the lengths and have them cut it, but how sad and pathetic is that. Plus, I'd have to take the lengths and translate them into numbers. The best way to do stuff around the house is Direct Non-Number Measurements. Aka, hold the board up, make a mark with a pen, and cut it.
(If you take down any shelving I've put up in the house, there are always ballpoint marks indicating levels and where things should be drilled.)
Alison Was Supposed To Email Me A Topic To Write About
But she hasn't. But, we'll be leaving for China on Wednesday. I'll take detailed notes with my Palm but I'll also just pop in and say something at the hotels. We'll be staying at the Kowloon Shangri-La in Hong Kong (or perhaps, technically, Kowloon) and the Gloria Hotel in Nanchang. I didn't see it in the paperwork, but someone else said we would also be in the White Swan when in Guangzhou.
At the Shangi-La, click on Photo Gallery, then on page 4. Look at the Themed Coffee Breaks. Wowsers. And, oddly, we can get Dim Sum here in north Alabama, but when we're in Hong Kong, we'll have Tapas. How backward.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Freaking Out 101
Or, really, we've been freaking out so much lately, I'm sure it's a 600 level course by now. But in any case, remember that letter that we've needed for such a long time. That letter from the Interstate Compact office of the state of Alabama. The letter we need because, even though we don't need Interstate Compact permission to get our kiddo across state lines, Alabama told the US Consulate people that there was a pre-adoption requirement that we have a letter from the Interstate Compact office saying we met all pre-adoption requirements. But, the state doesn't require that, and thus they won't give us the letter, but the Feds think we need it.
Remember that crap?
Well, Monday we, alledgedly, got the letter.
Crap on me once, Shame on You
So, I decide that Alison and I need to go out to eat to celebrate. We drive to Decatur, a medium po-dunk town, but they do have the only Steak and Shake in north Alabama. I get a double steak burger, Alison gets that chili on spaghetti noodle thing, and we share a large cheese fries. I have a root beer, non-diet too. So decadent.
Well, we get home and before we go to bed, I actually look at the letters that came in the envelope. Neither is signed, but Alison said that Anna said they never are. And the real kicker was that the May 2003 dated letter actually said we hadn't met the pre-adoption requirements. The other letter, July 2003, was just a cover letter for a homestudy update. However, it said, "approved homestudy", so we decided that was good enough.
But I still wasn't at ease. This was crap. But...
There is a gal who just got back from China, and to make my very long rant a little shorter, when Alison emailed her asking if they asked for the letter, her response was "I don't think I ever got a letter from them. What are they in charge of?" Which is a great response. Much better than, "We were stuck there for a week waiting for them to fax it."
Try To Be Nice
Call me an elitist, which I'm not really, except when it comes to coffee, and maybe Playstation games, and perhaps auto detailing and maintenance, but sometimes I just don't like socializing with the sheeple. And now, I'll be going to China with a bunch of strangers.
We had our conference call yesterday. The good piece of info I got out of it was that the SARS temp check places are still set up. So we need to make sure Pei Xi doesn't have a fever over 100.5 or we'll be denied entry to our plane, or whatever we're trying to get on. Tylenol will keep a fever down, and we have those temp strips that can be stuck onto a person.
I could go into detail about the lame questions that the people asked during the conference call, but overall, I think it'll be fine. They want to meet up in the San Fran airport, which we will anyway since we're all on the same flight out at 1:30 in the morning. (Just typing that made me tired.)
But, in general, I'm nervous. I've had to dose myself with benadryl the last two nights to get sleep. And I took off a half day yesterday since I hadn't gotten hardly any sleep the night before.
In one week, we leave.
Oh, and they have broadband at most of the hotels we'll stay at, so I can update, but I'll keep a real log of our travel in my Palm IIIxe and then upload it when I get home.
Saturday, June 19, 2004
Muchas Gracias to Hot-Deals.Org
For about the 20th time, I've gotten a great deal on something due to just remembering to check their site. And I swear, the good deals seem to pop up better on the weekends (so that I can see what I missed by the time they are sold out on Monday). And today, I bought an NEC 8X Black Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive for $87 with free FedEx shipping. Dual Freakin' Layer!
Cho Chi Cha (Dink Dink)!
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Coke from Alternate Dimension
Well, I meant to tell Christine that Alison picked up a Coca-Cola C2 for me the other day. I actually liked it. Basically, take New Coke and Diet Coke and combine them in a 50% mix. Since the sugar is below the "just right" threshold as is the phenylalanine (or whatever) it doesn't taste sweet enough. But, that's cool, as who wants sweet drinks anyway.
That said, I'm a junkie for Publix Diet Ginger Ale.
Flight Info
Well, my jitteryness can metamorph itself into uber-jitteryness now. We have our flight info, as least in part.
We'll fly on Singapore Air flight #1 out of San Francisco. We'll leave los Estados Unidos for Hong Kong at 1:25 am. Yikes. And then we'll show up the next day, on the 2nd of July, at 6:30 in the morning. Now, that's not 5 hrs there, that's a 17ish hr flight mixed with a 13+ hr offset and the international date line.
Now, if on the 30th, I stay up my normal 16+ hrs, then that night I have to leave Huntsville, I guess, around 9pm. Then we get onto Flight #1 at 1:30ish, have the 17+ hr flight, and then it's morning in HK. And then if I stay up another 16+ hrs...Then I'll be awake for around 50 hrs straight. I think I'll take an Ambien on the flight over. Which is such a shame as I'm checking out CDs from the library and ripping them for my lil mini-CD mp3 player.
Who knew that Huntsville's Main Branch would have Candy Butchers, the new Sheryl Crow, and best of Berlin. I was about to buy the singles online of The Metro, Steve McQueen, and frankly I'd never heard about the Candy Butchers except from others, but they do rock.
Crap, Launchcast is playing the crappiest Enya song I've ever heard. It's called Pilgrim. It's literally a hymn.
Hey
This whole daddy thing is freaking me out.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
The Good News
Remember how we've been waiting on the Interstate Compact letter for our daughter. Like, so she can cross state lines on her way home (alledgedly, but the adoption will be final in China, so what is the deal with this, except that the US Consulate in Guanghou says we need it). The good news is they mailed it on May 28!
The Bad News
So, where is it? Agape doesn't have it. We don't have it. The state already sent it off over two weeks, almost three, ago. We need that letter proto pronto.
However, it is nice to know that we have it, even if we don't have it.
Alison at 4
Alison has one of those old fashioned jobs. She goes in at 9 and gets off at 5. Well, since "the monkeys have been holding her back", she'll be going in at 8 so she can run credit cards before the riff-raff shows up. And this means she gets off work at 4. Yay.
This means that we can go see Matinee movies again. Well, except that whole baby thing. Hmm. But once we have Pei Xi here, Alison will stay off work for a month, just to help comfort Pei Xi in her transition to being over here. Then, Al will go back to working, but only 28 hrs, which sounds like lot fewer, but remember she's technically only working 35 now. So, we're talking about her having Friday off or something.
Alison's mom will watch Pei Xi during the day, until I get off work. And I think we're going to do a Mother's Day Out type thing two days a week, so Alison's mom will only keep her two of those days, but will also ferry her to her Mother's Day Out thing too.
Oh, And Speaking Of Ferrying Kiddos
The professional baby seat installer that Alison had install the baby seat in the car and showed her how to do it right said that I didn't need to disable the air bag in my car. I already knew that the manual from 1994 said that the kids were safe in a baby seat up there, but to put the seat all the way back. And now, I get an actual pro dude telling me not to disable it.
I'd read how the airbag will bruise the kid's knees. But that story, both the kid and the dad walked away from a head on collision with a semi, so...I guess...bear that in mind.
It's side impacts I'm worried about anyway.
Man, will the sun ever come out again? This week has been so yucky.
Monday, June 14, 2004
My Computer! It A Sploded!
Friday when I got home, I had the first (I guess) Evanescence CD on my keyfob drive and I was going to make a new mix CD for my car with Tourniquet off that, and probably buy two more songs. Also, I needed to unload the digital camera so that TC can have a digital copy of the Huntsville Times article about Mr. Turk smashing our Dunkin' Donuts. So, I turn the power on, I hear a fan whir up, but the computer doesn't do anything.
So, I hit the power button on the front, and nothing. I hold down the power button for four seconds, nothing. I pull the plug. The fan stops. I plug it back, and the fan comes back on, but nothing else. Lather, rinse, repeat about 10 times.
I go to make a call to Alison. I tell her the computer's acting screwy and ask her if she's seen this kind of thing before. Nope. I tell her I'll see if it'll go now, as I've had it unplugged for a few minutes.
I plug it back in and the sound of a sizzle begins and builds. Sparks! Flames shoot out the back! Flames don't really go away! I pull the plug! Flames and sparks go away! Smoke billows from the computer!
Crapola.
Today, I have the power supply in my car. I'm hoping that just getting a new one of those will fix it all. Otherwise, I have to spend around $400 just to get to where I was earlier. The only good thing about buying a new computer is that it's come with XP. I've been planning on getting XP and a DVD burner this year.
Happy Birthday To Alison
We had Alison's birthday on Friday night. Her side of the family came over. My side was over for it on Monday. Well, they were just over since we invited them since Alison's baby shower was Sunday and my sister came into town. We had the exact same meal as we had Monday also: Chicken fingers from Publix, potato salad, some other stuff I didn't eat, diet root beer, and the coffee n' ladyfingers thing in the big bowl thing. We got some towels and some other stuff. We needed towels as we gave all we had except for a few beach towels to charity about a month ago. But, hey, I really like drying off with beach towels. They are very big and absorbent.
The Chrony-chron of Lil Mr. Riddick
There is a new sci-fantasy classic out there, and it is The Chronicles of Riddick. I really liked it, but didn't see that it transcended the genre, UNTIL...oh, yeah, until...hoo buddy, did it transcend the genre by not just having a cheese ending. Granted, the boldness of the ending is perhaps more cheese, but great excellent cheese that I will buy next time.
However, how do you do the second film with such a King Conan type ending like that. I wait with baited breath.
(Note: I actually don't know what that means, and it just sounds nasty anyway. My brain: bait = worms. Yuck)
Friday, June 11, 2004
Alison's Getting Over-Ronnied
Al's coworkers have Reagan's funeral on the TV there. She's trying to do stuff that's horribly boring and she has a headache. Meanwhile, I have very little to do, as the mail is not running today and besides, hardly anyone came into work today. But she just sent me an email telling me to write something for her to read, and that The Sneeze was really gross today. It's a "Don't Eat It" entry.
Leafy's Funmobile
You know those dunebuggy-like fiberglass minimalist cars from the 1970s. I think there was a cartoon called Superbuggy or something, really weak, a rip off of Josie and the Pussycats, which I never watched either. Well, in any case, Leafy just dropped by and came to my office. I knew he was off work as he was wearing a pseudo-Hawaiian-ish type shirt untucked and denim knee shorts. Possibly not the Leaf's best look, but, in any case, he got me to show me his dunebuggy.
Wow. I sure don't need a car like that, but I'd sure like a car like that. Very loud. Rear engine. Weights nothing at all. Not terribly powerful. No top at all. Controls were just steering wheel, gas, brake, clutch, and emergency brake. I don't even think it had blinkers. Probably did.
It was originally red metallic gelcoat, but it's been painted over in glittery blue and silver. Very run-James-Bond's-new-gal-friend-down-on-the-beach, circa Roger Moore era.
Long Blather About Batteries (possibly boring to some)
They shipped the new battery for the Sony TRV250 today. I'll be able to keep the digital Handycam going for four hours at a time now, and also have the dinko 1.5 hr battery as a backup. We also picked up 48 AA batteries the other day at Costco. We ran out of the EAS protein that we usually drink for breakfast and just got the Costco kind, which is a little easier to mix, but I think I like the EAS better for flavor.
The AAs are to power the Motorola FRS radios, my MP3 player, my CMG Infinity tactical flashlight, and the Sima CP-150 portable hard drive/CF card reader. My Palm IIIxe, yes, very ancient, and it's Palm Portable Keyboard are powered by AAAs. My normal usage of it will have two AAs last me over a month. However, when that keyboard is draining the batteries, it'll last about 3 days. I'll use the IIIxe and PPK to document the trip to China. The Nikon 3500 has proprietary batteries and an external charger. I have three of the batteries and each one tends to give me about 60 pictures or so depending on how much flash or goofing around I do. The Nikon only has one CF card, and it holds 128 megs. However, the CP-150 has six gigs and can read the card anywhere, it doesn't depend on a computer.
We still have an issue about AC sockets. I need to get a converter. The TRV250's power supply cord can actually take between 110 and 240, so it would just require an adapter, but the Nikon, I'm assuming, needs 110. I'll look.
Natural Oil: For the First Time
Since I've had my Miata, it's only run on synthetic oil. Well, I cheaped out and put in Valvoline High Mileage normal oil yesterday. 3.4 quarts of 20w50 and 450 ml of 10w40. I always put 3.5ish into the engine and then run it, then check the level a few hours later. My dipstick has a 800 ml range that's acceptable and you can use that to figure out how much you need.
I did, however, change my oil like a total bonehead. Put the car on ramps rather than jackstands, though it's Alison's car you can do that with. My car requires me to be able to have the front right tire hanging down and turned all the way to the left so I can hug the tire and reach the oil filter. Also, I changed the oil after my 25 minute, 80 mph, commute from work. The engine was hot hot hot. Since I couldn't get at the filter easily, I just scooted under the car. I didn't realize how much I'd pushed the oil drain pan out of the way, until I finally got the filter loose and about an ounce of very hot oil dripped onto my chest. One more stain for the stained Don't Mess With Texas shirt.
I actually ended up getting the oil filter out from the top, snaking it past the air flow meter. Normally, this would have burnt me pretty well, but my sister got me some mechanics gloves for Christmas. I had wanted normal ones, but I think she thought I was going to use them as winter gloves, so she got special temperature resistant ones. Worked like a charm.
Celebrity Poker Showdown and Weekend Plans
When I finished, I was totally exhausted, mostly due to the heat. I took a shower and then sat around watching TV the rest of the night. It was one of the first nights in a long time that we didn't have to do anything. I stayed up too late watching Norm McDonald and Michael Ian Black duke it out on Celebrity Poker Showdown. This was a great episode, though not so much witty banter, as Norm being very serious and nearly villain like. He really wanted to win the $100,000 for his charity.
Alison and I should go see Chron o' Riddick this weekend. Maybe buy some shower curtains. Alison's birthday is at our house tonight and we've made the coffee dessert that we had Monday when my parents and sister were over.
I'm Blanced, Brain-wise
I did a little online test and it said I gathered info via sound and vision equally and was basically not left or right brain dominant. Here's the overly wordy summary at the end:
Nick, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant with a balanced preference for auditory and visual inputs. Because of your "centrist" tendencies, the distinctions between various types of brain usage are somewhat blurred.
Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor, unless it requires total spontaneity and ability to improvise, your weaker traits. [Untrue! Untrue!] However, you are far from rigid or overcontrolled. You possess a degree of individuality, perceptiveness, and trust in your intuition to function at much more sophisticated levels than most. [That's more like it.]
Having given sufficient attention to detail, you can readily perceive the larger aspects and implications of a situation or of learning. You are functional and practical, but can blend abstraction and theory into your framework readily.
The equivalence of your auditory and visual learning orientation gives you two equally effective sensory input systems, each with distinctive features. You can process both unidimensionally and multidimen- sionally with equal facility. When needed, you sequence material while at other times you "intake it all" and store it for processing later.
Your natural ability to use your senses is also synthesized in your way of learning. You can be reflective in your approach, absorbing material in a non-aggressive manner, and at other times voracious in seeking out stimulation and experience.
Overall you tend to be somewhat more critical of yourself than is necessary and avoid enjoying life too much because of a sense of duty. You feel somewhat constrained and tend to sometimes restrict your expressiveness. In any given situation, you will opt for the rational [Untrue! Untrue!], and learning of almost any type should be easy for you. You might need certain ideas explained to you in order to fit them into your scheme of things, but you're at least open to that!
Yawn!
They forgot my lightning fast reflexes, dashing good looks, and pony pal Pokey too.
Actually, TC here has a real superpower. He can smell ants.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Ronald Reagan
This whole Ronald Reagan Never Ending Funeral has shown me that I'm an alien again. And I'm not complaining about his casket touring the country and drawing record crowds, unless I was to say that it's tacky. But no less tacky than what's been going on with Mao forever. But, that said, the setup with Mao's tomb is the way to do it.
But what has come to my attention, when reading the lil blogs that I read daily, is that others don't watch TV like I do. My replaytv insulates me from the news. Heck, the only info on Reagan that I saw was in the E! True Hollywood Story of The Sopranos, the little red ticker that's underneath said something like "Ronald Reagan, Actor from 1940s B-movies and 80's President, Has Died" which, I also think is fairly tacky of them. Besides, if you're watching TV, and can read, you might just know who RR is without the "Actor for 1940's B-movies" dig.
And, yeah, I like Reagan. I have his autobiography, which I got to about his second year in college and lost interest, and What I Saw At The Revolution by Peggy Noonan. And I absolutely love Noonan's writing style when she's matching the speaking style of Reagan.
I may not have mentioned it recently, but I have a degree in communication arts specializing in rhetorical theory. Right before I graduated with it, I switched to the college of engineering and soon found that not only was I not really scared of math, but I truly appreciated how I could get 100% on a test when I was right. Being right will only get you a C in a liberal arts class. Panache will get you a B. And being a total suck up might get you an A. But, as those who know me in real life, sucking up isn't one of my big hobbies. Especially not to communications teachers who escaped being high school guidance councilors by the skin of their teeth.
Noonan was one of my minor heroes back then. Ease of phrasing is so key. However, though I might be able to write a speech, I'm not Noonan. Heck, even if I were half as good as her, I might have been able to support a family. But, no, I should have heeded the advice of the sports writer who lectured us when I was in a journalism class. "If you can write, get out of journalism, as it won't get you writing any better. Get out and learn something so you have something to write about. If you can't write, get out of journalism, because you can't write."
Errand Running
Alison and I are trying to get the house in order for Pei Xi's arrival. I've replaced a chandelier that we didn't like and a hanging light in the foyer of the house we also didn't like. On the way home yesterday, I bought two cordless phones and four Hi8 tapes for the digital Handycam while in China. I also got some mints. I really like wintergreen better than peppermint.
Tonight we have the night off, but I think Alison will have us go grocery shopping. Tomorrow is Alison's birthday at our house. Her real birthday was yesterday, but I gave her my presents on Sunday (lighting stuff). Hopefully, we can see Chronicles of Riddick on Saturday afternoon. I need some good escapism.
I've gotten very tired while writing this.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
1:34 PM
Didn't Do Much Yesterday
And that's an understatement. Sure, I went to work. And I was actually very busy at work for a change. I had to confirm some stuff and then drive a very long distance to paint six letters on the ground, then I got back and had to investigate a company which makes solar sails for space probes because a disgruntled employee said they were dumping silver nitrate down the drain. I did get so see a guy that I knew from my CHE classes though, and he accidentally broke the handle off the passenger side of my van's dash. I need to get that fixed, as there are now two pointy pieces of hard plastic poking out. Would be less than comfortable in a wreck.
I'm Testing Blogger's Email Posting
This might be the way I post when I'm off in China. However, it's just as easy to get into blogger as it is to get here. However, I can send an email to my secret email address at blogger that will post the entry from anywhere and from any email address. More functionality, sure, but not that I'll actually use it. It would be interesting to set up a blog at blogspot and then get it signed up for newsletters. Well, maybe interesting for someone else to do.
Oh, Yeah, Back To Yesterday
So, I get off work late because I had to drive back from solar sail place (and solar sails look cool BTW). I finished writing up the inspection stuff and left it on my desk as there were things that I'd need to tell by boss that didn't get written down. When I got on the road, I wasn't even off Vermont when my cell phone rang. It was Alison. I forget what we talked about but I just sat in front of the cardboard recycling center and chatted. It was actually kind of neat to sit there. I drive by it every day, but I never look around at the overgrown natureness that pollutes that road. Vines and weeds. Bane of all existence.
I had to go by Target to get cat food and litter...wait...no, that was Monday.
Monday I got litter and food on the way home and my parents and sister came over. Best parts was when mom was visibly shocked and pleased when she walked into the baby's room. It's done in flower, butterfly, primary colors. Also, mom, borderline diabetic, had two helpings of Alison's killer dessert. I'll see if I can get Al to tell me the URL of the recipe, then all you have to do is remove all the words Fat Free or Sugar Free from it and change the normal Coolwhip to Vanilla Coolwhip and the vanilla Jello to White Chocolate Jello.
So, yesterday, I guess I came straight home. Yeah, now I remember. I watched about 40 minutes of the E! True Hollywood Story of Keanu Reeves. I didn't know he was 1/4 Chinese. Then, when Alison got home, we packed up the Andrew Wyeth "Master Bedroom" print, a drill, and a wall anchor and went to Alison's mom's house to mount it above the fireplace in her master bedroom.
She wanted to take us out to eat for dinner since we've been helping her a whole lot, so we went to Logan's Roadhouse. I got steak for a change. Teriaki club steak, medium, fries, and blue cheese dressing on the salad. Decaf to drink.
Waiter: "Aw, what's the point of decaf?"
Me: "Because I plan on falling asleep as soon as I get home after this."
And I did. I fell asleep on the couch first. Then went to the bedroom and fell asleep on the bed with my clothes on. Then I got up and lost the jeans and shoes and fell back down. Then Alison started watching Summersby too loud. I got up and actually got ready for bed, brushing teeth, etc. And then I woke up today. I think I slept 10.5 hrs.
July 1 through 14
That's the estimated travel dates from our agency. So, we have three weeks to get ready, which is not a big deal. However, how does a guy actually get ready for all of the sudden having a 1 year old daughter who doesn't speak a bit of English. Not that American babies are masters of their native language at one year old or anything. Oh, gees, this is going to be interesting.
I need to decide how I'm going to order a spare camcorder battery. Oh, and I preordered Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from Amazon.
Monday, June 07, 2004
Fingerprints [TMBG Joke Failed To Load]
We went down to Birmingham on Saturday and the secret location of the CIS fingerprinting place fingerprinted our fingerprints. It was pleasant enough, and the feeling that one of the two last hurtles was hurtled was good. Though having that TV in the second waiting area on the miracle vacuum infomercial was very painful. And honestly, it shouldn't be called an infomercial, as there was no info, it was just one long, bad commercial. I mean, how many M&Ms can we watch the stupid thing suck up.
Movies
Saw 2.7 movies over the weekend:
Knockaround Guys
Not bad, but definitely not good. Looks like we had an OK script, good actors, and a horrible director. One scene, where two of the mob kids are watching a turkey hunting show, is straight Tarintino filler that people love, but it was played all wrong. Everyone was encouraged to embrace their inner stereotype, and oddly, the makeup work was very distracting. Everyone looked like they were made of flesh colored porcelain.
Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azerkan
I leaned over to Alison and asked, "It is me, or is absolutely nothing happening?" Yes, the movie is very slow to those who haven't read the book. Why is that? Because we don't know what's going on. At the end we have the explanation, but the buildup has been so long, and with so little hints at what was going on, that we've forgotten half of the random crap that happened. Also, by not letting us know what's going on, we lacked one big big thing. Suspense. Very good last half, very long feeling first half. But, overall pleasant, as I like the HP universe.
Winged Migration
This minimalist documentary has some of the most amazing footage I've ever seen. I was awed. Well, at first I was awed, then I started reading a magazine at the same time as I watched it. Then I stopped it 2/3 the way through. I mean, really, how many different breeds of geese can I see breathtaking footage of without getting bored with it. I think this movie would be better with drugs. Specifically Ambien.
One More Adoption Hurdle
The only thing we are missing is the letter from the State Interstate Compact office saying we have met all the state pre-adoption requirements. I spoke with the guy who used to be the CEO of out local homestudy agency, and he said that the IC office is a major foot-dragging org. They haven't lost our paperwork, they just do things very slow, and sometimes late. It's always a constant battle. Alison called and Anna said that someone in the office has been calling every day for the past 3 weeks or so (I'd have to check my blog to see when we first started panicking) and that they don't want us to call, but we can send a letter.
Alison will send a letter priority mail return receipt tomorrow expressing our concern.
Meanwhile, I called Bud Cramer's office. They forwarded me to a Senator's office. The Legislative Office called me back and got all the info. They are ready to pull a "Senator So-and-So is very upset that the Postagulous family doesn't have their letter yet" for us at any time. But they thought we might want to wait a little longer as these things have a way of fixing themselves right in time. I told her that we'd heard of a family who got word on Friday that they'd have to fly out Sunday. She said to hit the panic button at any time and they'd pull out the big guns. However, she would want to talk to Anna at our homestudy agency before she did that, as usually what holds up the letter is not having your paperwork in order. Well, we know that we have done everything we need to, even had our homestudy updated a few months ago, but we still don't have the letter. And, to my knowledge, no letter = no travel visa for Pei Xi = we can't get her home. And, since we travel in a group and all our tickets are bought in advance...yikes.
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Yeah, Westerners Are Spoiled
This article is worth reading even if you only scan through and look at the pay rates and what is considered the poverty level in China. I'll spoil that for you. In China, you aren't poor until you only make $76US a year.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
One Thing We Heard About Fuzhou SWI
The orphanage is good and the foster care, what Pei Xi is in, is also good, but the common practice is to move them from foster care into the orphanage in the last week they are there before their family comes to get them. Their family meaning Alison and I, also known in the adoption jargon as a "Forever Family" which I actually find to be a little redundant. I think that Pei Xi will be stressed by this. Actually, I think she'll be more stressed by this than if we just switched parents on her, from foster to us, which is what I thought would happen.
Stress Sucks
So, with my back totally messed up so that I'm popping Skelaxin like it was candy, and with Pei Xi possibly being stressed distantly in the Fuzhou Social Welfare Institute, and us not even having all the paperwork we need to travel, and whatever else comes up, I can't sleep. Not only can I not sleep very well, I'm having nightmares. Two from last night stand out.
Chocolate Milk before Pei Xi's Arrival
As some of you know, I can't eat chocolate. Well, I can if I want a brain splitting migraine which will cause me to be so incapacitated that my body will focus on me throwing up. But it prompts this reaction about an hour too late. In my dream, we were at the Lakeview Hotel in Nanchang and they were going to bring Pei Xi up in a few hours. Somehow, I lose my mind and drink a quart of very thick, very chocolatey, and very good chocolate milk (and honestly I don't know what that tastes like, but Alison will sometimes tell me when my elitist coffee tastes like chocolate a little). I realize that I need to throw up. So I go to the bathroom and try to do so, but I can't. I manage to get out about 2 oz of chocolate syrupy consistency. Water is overflowing out of the sink and the toilet onto the floor. The lights start getting too bright and the sounds of the water get deafening (these are normal symptoms). And all the while, I know that Pei Xi is going to show up any time now. And I'm dry heaving trying to get the stuff out of me before I'm good for nothing for the next day and a half.
I wake up and tell Alison and she says that's horrible. I can't get back to sleep. I keep thinking that I'd eaten chocolate. I even go check the ingredients on the almond and white chocolate ice cream bars we had after dinner. Nope, but there is a lot of coconut in them and very little Almonds. Hmm.
Note: White chocolate is obviously not real chocolate, so I can have it. White chocolate only has cocoa butter, which actually is pretty dang good, but I actually consider cinnamon, maple syrup, and coffee to taste more like chocolate than white chocolate does.
Metal Bedframe Grows Like a Vine
This one is shorter. A metal bedframe grows like a vine and one of the rods goes through my left leg in the thigh area. I'm stuck on this metal bed now. I wake up. No biggie.
Wanna Fanta, Doncha Wanna
Of the four Fanta gals which are currently polluting the airwaves and intro-bits at movies before the previews, I think the sexiest outfit of the three has to be the purple one, since it has those easy access zippers. Remember, we're talking sexy here. Now, for actual coolness, Red. Though some skin is showing, you could do anything without fear of something coming untucked, etc. Basically, it's the tactical suit.
Nina Pei Xi's baby shower is this Sunday at 2.
The new Harry Potter movie comes out this Friday.
I have everything I need to put my shocks on my Miata, except a good back.
I have everything I need to change the oil on the Focus and Miata, except a good back.
I've cut out caffeine so that maybe I can sleep tonight. Also, I feel like I'm on the verge of acid reflux.
I Don't Feel Like Writing
Though I will say that Day After Tomorrow sucked, and I'll plagiarize this Onion article (though, but attributing it, I've not really plagiarized it):
NEW ORLEANS - The werewolf who died while attacking a young woman Sunday must have been allergic to peanuts, experts said Tuesday. "The wolfman crashed through the intended victim's front window, but before the accursed beast could tear her apart in a savage fury, he stepped in a bowl of honey-roasted peanuts," said Dr. Alex Price, professor of lycanthropic studies at Tulane University. "Within seconds, the hellbeast's face began to swell, and he collapsed into an anaphylactic attack, unable to breathe." Price said that, had the werewolf not been more animal than man at the time of the attack, he likely would have used the epinephrine injection pen paramedics found in the breast pocket of his shirt.
