Sunday, May 29, 2011

Moving...bleech

The move is continuing through this Memorial Day weekend. We got delayed today due to the sudden realization we had run out of storage space. So off to IKEA we went, where we procured a very nice wardrobe closet (and only one widget missing from the kit!). It took 2 1/2 hours for J to build (I supervised; I'm very good at that) and so that took a chunk out of the day. Should also note that we still haven't emptied our apartment; we think we have maybe two hours of work left there for tomorrow.

We had originally planned to put the wardrobe in the closet-less guest room, but then changed direction. As a result, the dresser in the master bedroom is now hanging out in the dining room while waiting to be moved into the guest room. We also have started becoming ruthless with stuff, starting donation boxes and trash; if it's in good enough condition to donate, we will, but some clothes and linens are just so... gross that we tossed them immediately.

We think we're making progress because we have lots of empty boxes, yet the chaos around us seems to grow every day. I'm not sure if it's because we still have the apartment so stuff from there was arriving every day, making it harder to move through the stuff already in the house, or we're just incredibly disorganized, or we have lots and lots of crap. All of these things could be true. Hopefully tomorrow we'll rid ourselves of the apartment -- well, actually we have to since our lease expires on the 31st -- and really get a handle on tackling the mess that is our house. Still, home sweet home. It's nice to be here.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Administrative note

And oh! I should mention -- because this has actually come up a couple times recently -- that if you ever sent me a story to be published on this site, I don't have a copy of it. Sorry. I deleted all stories from the website some time ago and kept copies for a while on my dearly departed computer, which only had a 20 GB harddrive; at some point, I decided I needed the hard drive space and I deleted anything that was no longer on my site. Add to that a couple of reformats on the drive and last summer's catastrophic hard drive failure, and I don't really have an archive of a lot of things (including some of my stuff anymore. So if you're looking for a copy, you may want to try the Way Back When machine. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
Things that make you go hmmm...

The more I encounter them, the less I like the CAPTCHA method of telling "humans apart from computer." I understand why it's used and why it's needed, but this particular human is not very good at using them. Mostly it's because those graphics are so badly rendered that it's hard to read them correctly. The letters are pushed together, the lines are blurred or fuzzy, and it's like is that an I or a 1? I invariably get my first attempt at filling the box incorrect and have to do it again several times. A couple of times, the graphics have been so difficult to decipher that I have locked myself out of my own account. I can't be the only one who has this problem, right?

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Moving...

So I have moved again. Moving is no fun, as we all know. In fact, it's amazing -- AMAZING -- just how much stuff one gathers when one stays in place. Part of me thinks it's a great idea to move every year just to keep from accumulating stuff, but then the other part of me remembers what a pain in the butt it was to deal with AT&T to get phone & internet set up at the new place and I'm thinking, "Okay, maybe we'll stay put for a while." Right now I'm a bit intimidated by the number of boxes still left to unpack (we started moving on Wednesday with professional movers for the heavy stuff). We're slowly working our way through it, 'slowly' being the operative word here. At least this computer is now back up and functioning. Hooray!

Sunday, May 08, 2011

LotD

I always enjoy reading features on Hillary; have been a fan since she was first lady, so it's nice to see an article when she's not getting beat on for one thing or another. It's amazing she went from one of the most reviled figures in America to one of the most admired women in the world (though in all fairness, she's been pretty respected and fairly treated since she became the junior senator from New York). Hillary Clinton: Woman of the World Politics: vanityfair.com

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

LotD II

The state of Sbarro: America's Least Essential Restaurant. This article cracked me. Maybe I'm easily amused by the nostalgia of hitting a rather lame mall in western Mass and thinking Sbarro was gourmet; in those days, anything was better than the dining commons. Oh how I looked forward to that pizza slice. Now you can't get me to even glance at the display case of the place. Anyway, fun article, especially if you're a reformed Sbarro "fan" like yours truly.
LotD

I guess my temporary political truce is over. Paul Ryan's Individual Mandate -- how his budget resembles Obamacare. As startling as this article is, I have to 'fess -- I'm happy when I'm not part of the political cacophony. It's starting to get to be a bit much. Maybe tomorrow I'll go back to the silly stuff again.

Monday, May 02, 2011

He won't be missed

The NYTimes' Osama bin Laden obituary. Startling but very welcome development. Here's the inside story, per the WaPo. I'm just in awe of the Navy SEALs and CIA operatives who carried out this mission.