I had a bizarre dream before waking up this morning. I dreamed that I was in a large office building, or perhaps some kind of fortified compound judging by the parts that appeared to be only windowless, cement-block corridors, when an alien race captured it. They were a bit like most sci-fi show aliens; that is, they were humanoid, but with some ( Read more... )

Back in October I suspended our Blockbuster-by-mail account, partially because we were about to move and not have a permanent address for a time, and partially because the service was getting increasingly mediocre - the things I wanted to watch all seemed to be on a long wait list, and it hardly seemed worth it to have the service, at least for a ( Read more... )

I must be getting old, because the way that many internet sites present things bothers me. When I search for recipes, I often find myself clicking on a Yummly link, only realizing a split second later that Yummly is basically Pinterest for food - it just plasters the page with a grid of photos, which 99% of the time is useless - I'm often looking ( Read more... )

My grandmother passed away just over a week ago (it happened Sunday the 12th). She was the last grandparent I had. I feel a bit bad that I did not come to visit with Lucia so they could meet in person, though in fairness by the time that was the most possible Lucia was mobile and fidgety and while my grandma would have liked to see her in person, I ( Read more... )

This month's been a big one for illness. Back on the 6th I had a bit of a sore throat at work, but didn't think much of it. Then I felt under the weather for the weekend, but not horrible. I went to work Monday through Wednesday, but by then Chuck's health had taken a turn for the worse and he was diagnosed with an ear infection. Lucia had also ( Read more... )

I feel like I will need to start a home journal to document all the things we have done for the house, so that in many years we will still have record of what happened in the distant past. In the meantime I think I'll just record a few things here.

Door locks - the front and back doors both got their knob and deadbolt locks replaced during the ( Read more... )

We're in New Jersey! The house is still in quite a state of upheaval, but slowly we're putting it together. The biggest hurdle is a lack of storage in our bedroom, but there's a fair opportunity to remedy that by making use of knee-wall space (though it will require some consulting before tackling anything). However most of that will have to wait, ( Read more... )

Yesterday was the first day of what I am calling Brutal Drive Time - I am currently commuting from Newark, DE to Bridgewater, NJ as needed to support project work, be here for meetings, etc. It's a solid 2 hours, usually more like 2hr 15min and 2hr 30min thus far, and I get to do it twice a day. Whee ( Read more... )

Yesterday we were able to bring Ginko home from the animal hospital - he's wearing a no-chew cone collar to keep him from fussing with the IV insertion sites on his legs, and he's on antibiotics, antispasmodics, painkillers, and an appetite stimulant for the next few days, but other than that he's doing alright. He's been eating and drinking, and ( Read more... )

I went away on a business trip to Las Vegas for a trade show, and our younger cat started acting weird that very evening - he was growling and being very defensive any time Viktor approached him. The next day he started peeing in random places around the house. Chuck made an appointment for him to see the vet the following day. After an examination ( Read more... )