The Madness Continues...

Yep, I'm officially off work today (Mon) and now tomorrow (Tues), due to the tropical storm Faye and its cone of misery making a slight shift to the east. We woke up early this morning, and went off to fill up our gas tank and go grocery shopping...all in the rain. I've had to reset a dr appt and reset taking the schoolbus in to be fixed due to the stupid rain.

We're now happily home again cacooned in our house. T is busy watching Enchanted, a disney movie...for the 2nd time. Its really rather cute and a nice change from the usual. Dot was talking about it this weekend saying that she thought T would like it and by coincidence, T asked to watch it for the first time today.

I've discovered computer games on my new laptop. My fav is Solitaire. T's fav is some Insane Fishbowl game.

Tropical Storm Warning Madness

Yep, its that time of year again. I hate it. Everything has suddenly become a pain in the ass to accomplish. Why? We're once again under a tropical storm warning...NOT HURRICANE, merely a tropical storm. The only people thrilled with this turn of events are the news media. Particularly, one local station that is akin to the National Enquirer, but on video. If one just limited your news intake to channel 7, you'd think that armegeddon is about to descend upon us vs. some strong winds and rain. The other stations aren't that much better.

The idiots just did a report on how the home depot and publix have not suffered a run on supplies. Reported about how nobody seemed to be panicking or otherwise losing their minds vs. in years past (like when we had cat 3's and 4's barrelling down on us). Then, the idiots had the audacity to attribute the lack of panic on a poor economy vs. the fact that we are just at risk to a really bad storm. Aye.Aye.Aye. Next, they'll be reporting in those yellow rain slickers with a garden sprinkler simulating rain and a big fan.

The other people thrilled with the news are the kids. Tomorrow, Monday, was supposed to be the first day of school. Now, not so much. School is cancelled. The Courts are cancelled. Big possibility that the daycare will be closed.

I tried to go food shopping today, and couldn't get a spot in the lot. I had forgotten that the storm was approaching...even though its over 48 hours away. Go figure. I guess all the people invading the local publix were the poor souls who limit their Tv viewing to channel 7. Tomorrow, I'm off to drop the schoolbus off to get fixed. I'm annoyed that I can't launch my investigation into the culprit who side-swiped me, but alas the storm will be interfering with that as well.

So, while all I have to put up with is inconvenience, it looks like the storm will be striking the west coast of flordia. While you hate to see it strike anywhere, I particularly don't want to see it hit my friends in Tampa, nor the poor souls who were struck just a few years ago with previous hurricanes. So, I'll be praying that it remains a weak cat 1.

Meanwhile, Aunt Dot flies out at 7:00 a.m. in the morning to Pensacola (west coast in the panhandle) for the week on business. Let's all pray that she doesn't meet anybody or anything named Fay along the way!

My Favorite Purchase in a Long, Long, Time

So, every Friday night, it seems we've gotten into a routine of going to dinner at Nordstroms, then roaming the Merrick Park mall. They have a convenient Borders on the 3rd floor, and T loves going there for a book or other item from the clearance section. Tonight, though, I scored. I got this cool set of playing cards. Only $5.99. Hillary is pictured on the Aces, and various political figures from the season as other numbers. A few noted idiots like Novak and Limbaugh are deuces. But....my favorite of all time........ is this next card pictured...




Shoot. If I'd known that this card was in the pack, I would have bought a few more! Hell, I'd have paid twice the price. This is my best purchase of the year!

How a jinxed woman caps off the week...

...she gets side-swiped while parked in the state attorney's office parking lot. The swiper failed to leave a name or ins info. Isn't that special? Especially since the culprit is more than likely an employee of said office and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage is still a crime in Florida. Nice.

Meanwhile, its nice to know I have some effect on the crime in Dade County. I'm minding my own business today walking out of court, when someone in the audience says, "Hi, Look, I want to show you..." and hands me a Florida driver's license. I look at the name, that seems familiar, check to make sure its not a neighbor, and ask why he's handing it to me. He says, "You don't remember?" A short time later, when the judge was taking a break, I was behind him exiting. I asked why he was showing me the license. He says that I told him in 2000 that if he ever appeared in court again without a driver's license I'd throw him in jail.

Turns out he was a defendant from my doper days, that I put on a substantial assistence contract years ago. If I recall, he was pulled over with a couple kilos and also was cited for driving while license suspended (dwls). I probably gave him my standard lecture about how if he does anything, anything at all, to get rearrested while he's cooperating, (i.e. trying to set up deals so we can arrest other dopers), even if it's just a traffic crime like dwls, I'll throw him in jail for 15 years.

So, I'm sure he freaked when he saw me again in court today, even though I was just there by coincidence. What's funny is that his license was issued just yesterday. Guess after my speech, he was afraid to come to court again with no license. No idea why he was there again, and frankly, I don't want to know. But I'm pleased that I'm doing my small part to fight crime in Miami....we're all a bit safer knowing that all the traffickers are careful to make sure they have a valid florida driver's license when they're busy moving their product. HeHe.

I'm Jinxed

I think I should just resign myself and admit that August is a jinxed month for us. Long-time readers of this blog will remember last august, when I had to buy a new central air conditioning unit for the house, as my old one stopped working. I think around the same time, my computer stopped working, and I had to buy my current desktop. Lastly, one or two of my direct tv boxes needed replacing.

Well, I think its started again. Hopefully, this year's jinx won't be as major or expensive as the a/c. I finally got my new modem and desktop working again. And, after about 4 hours last night got my laptop and the wireless router working. I'm still not quite sure how that happened, but I had success!! But then.....you guessed it. My HD directv stopped working. After about 40 minutes on the phone with their tech support, I learned that they require a service call to fix it...and they're going to charge me for it. The Bastards. Everytime I turn around, they're adding some stupid fee or charge for their service.

I was so beaten down last night between the TV and the computers, that I just couldn't make a decision. Told them I'll call back if I want a service tech to come out...for 80.00 bucks...or for about 94.00 plus 5.99 per month if I want a warranty and free service calls. This "warranty" a new gimmick. Perhaps I'll check around and see what switching to cable would cost. Probably a hell of a lot more. I suspect its all a racket and the stick it to you whether you're coming or going. Oh well.

The only bright spot in this whole mess is that my other 3 TVs are still working. So yes, Dot, you won't miss any of your shows if you come this weekend.

I Need to Vent!

OH. MY.GOD.

My computer and internet connection are driving me INSANE!!!!!!!!!! The problems have been plagueing me all week. My ethernet connection is apparently kaput on my computer. So a while back, I connected to the internet and modem using the USB connection. Well, guess what happened sunday? The USB connection port on my modem went kaput. After QUITE a bit of arguing with ATT, they finally consented to sending me a new modem and assured me that it would have a USB connection. So, I wait about 2 days, and guess what arrives? Yep, a new modem with NO USB connection. Only ethernet. Turns out, they don't make the modems with both connections any more. USB is passe.

After much consulting with their "tech support" again, I finally go out and purchase some nifty gizmo that converts a ethernet connection to a USB connection. It works, but only on and off. ATT keeps throwing me into some stupid site that insists I enter my info and password. I call them, and continually get disconnected.

I.WANT.TO.SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, my only other option....yep, I'm fully entering the 21st century. Not only have I recently joined the Land of Blog, but I am now going wireless, baby! I also picked up a relatively cheap laptop. I'd been meaning to do that for a while, as my dad needs alot of help with his stuff. I can take the laptop to his house of office.

I'm off to pick up the laptop tonight, and attempt to set it all up on a wireless network. The lap top, my desk top, and perhaps even my old desktop that I gave to T. Say a prayer that it works out.

The Unknown Princess

One of my oldest friends works in a bookstore, Books & Books, which is right around the corner in Coral Gables. While at the party last week, she mentioned how on Saturdays, they have story time and crafts for an hour for the kids. I promised T and I would go. So, right on schedule, we were off to the bookstore on saturday. The children's section is to die for. There were about 8 - 10 kids there in total, and the woman read about 3 or 4 books, with mice as the theme. They then proceeded to make mice puppets after the story reading.

T could not have cared less about the story time. Instead, she wandered around looking at all the stuff there. However, once the crafts were broken out, she planted herself right in the middle of everything, and proceeded to have lots of fun.

For the rest of the day, she's been playing around with the puppet. She even puts it on her head. Its the funniest thing. Remember the Gong Show from circa 1977-79 and the unknown comic, who was always my favorite? T runs around the house with the bag on her head and looks like a really odd "unknown princess" who looks suspiciously like a mouse.

We ended the day watering the plants in the front yard. With all the rain we've had, they really didn't need it, but T likes to do it so much, I use it as a bargaining chip to get her to cooperate or do something. Bribery is a wonderful thing!

08-08-08 Let the Games Begin!

Needless to say, we're very excited to watch the Olympics this year, which are being played in Beijing. Everytime T hears China mentioned on Tv, she starts screaming, Mama, look, my china, my china!

We'll be popping up some corn, breaking out the sodas, and having an small opening games party tonight...just us.

Let the Games Begin!


UPDATE: T, who never goes to sleep before 9:30, and would stay up til 11:00 or so if i let her (which sometimes i do) went into her room on her own last night and fell asleep from like 8:00 p.m. til 10:00 or so. She missed the wonderful opening ceremony, but did get to see some of the "parade" of nations entering the stadium.

I must admit, when we were in Beijing, and I saw the "bird's nest" under construction, I was thinking how ugly it was and how it totally did not fit in the city. Especially since my best view of
it was from one of the ancient attractions. Well, after seeing it in all its glory last night, I can't belive how wrong I was and how beautiful that place is. Live and learn.

Stir Crazy

Since we've been stuck inside for the past 48 hours, we've gotten a little stir crazy. So, guess where we took off to?

Yep, dinner and the bookstore. Nothing like a quick trip to the mall, to get the ants out of our pants.



Meanwhile, I can't tell you how excited I am. Guess who's moving into the neighborhood? I just got the email...

Miami Campaign for Change Office Opening
1830 NW 7th Street Suite 202
Miami, FL
Wednesday, August 6th 5:00 p.m.

Wooo Hooo, this is literally right up the street from me. I'll be stopping by to see if I can ge my "Si, se puede" yard sign anytime soon.

Typhoid Taylor and Tape Measures

Well, a by-product of the fun weekend is that T has been sick. On sunday, she had a definite case of the sniffles, that just kept getting worse and worse. Like turning on a faucet and the water runs harder and harder. In this case, green, slimy "water", if you get my drift. So, we're been home for the past 2 days.

We went off to the doctor on Monday, to ensure that T does not have an ear infection. So far, so good. Just had a slight fever. She's been sleeping quite a bit and I've been doing some work on the computer.

When she's awake, she entertains herself with her new "measure". A tape measure my dad gave her when we were at my parents house this weekend. She loves the thing. Its her new favorite toy. She insists on bringing it everywhere.

Lastly, the only other news from the weekend is that I finally painted my toes again. 3 months of naked toes was killing me. So, even though my foot swelled up like a balloon, at least it looked good! My nails, of course, are another story. After 20 years of going every other week for a manicure, its kind of nice not having to do that. Of course, my nails are like nubs, but I'm dealing with it.

I feel certain that tomorrow, I'll be sending T back to school. We'll see. Needless to say, swim class is cancelled until further notice, at least until Typhoid Taylor makes a full recovery.