“Remember this?”
< 1 minute read
October 18, 2006, 4:47 PM
Dad went to a meeting at my old high school today, and caught a photo with his cell phone of a piece of artwork that had my name attached to it. What the meeting was about, I have no idea. But this is what he got, seen here in the art room of Stuarts Draft High School:
Dad texted the photo and the message to me this morning, with the message “remember this?” with it. When it first buzzed in, I looked at it, and I was like, nooooooo… since I wasn’t even quite sure what I was looking at. I honestly don’t remember making that. It must not have left that big of an impression on me. We can assume that this was a group project, considering that my name appears on top, and Samantha Hensley’s name appears at the bottom. I’d say it was probably done about mid-semester in the spring of 1998, during the acrylic paint unit.
So, yeah. I’m sure Dad was quite proud, though, to see my name on the wall from some eight years ago.
Categories: High school
I returned empty-handed, but…
3 minute read
October 16, 2006, 11:31 PM
Yes, I’m sad to say that I returned from Charlottesville empty-handed, having gotten no shoulder strap for my camera bag, and no battery for my Lappy. Sad times on both counts. I went all over the place, too. I went to Office Depot, to Best Buy, to Circuit City, to Ritz Camera, to Target, to JCPenney, to Belk, and even to Wal-Mart in a last-ditch effort. It turns out that no one sells replacement shoulder straps, and I looked in camera sections, luggage sections, and even the ladies’ handbags to see if I could dig up a stand-alone strap. No dice. These stores would have been more than happy to sell me a shoulder strap with a bag attached to it, but I neither want nor need a new bag. Big Mavica’s been living in its current bag for three and some years, and it’s quite happy with its living space, thank you very much. Ritz Camera came closest, selling replacement straps. However, they were designed for the camera itself, and not for the accompanying bag. Big Mavica’s strap presently has no issues, and so I wouldn’t think about replacing it at this time, though they certainly had some nice ones.
Note that I didn’t go to Batteries Plus, though, to get a battery for the Lappy. I can’t say that I didn’t try to go, but when I got there at 7:30 PM, they were already closed. So that was a wash.
And like so many times when I go out, I get recognized from my job at Wally World. You see, we get a lot of people from Charlottesville, because the Charlottesville store is not a Supercenter, and ours is. But at least when I get recognized, they always tell me how nice and helpful I was when they were patronizing the store. It would be something else if they told me I was Mr. Crabby Pants or something. I do have days at work when I get crabby, don’t get me wrong, but the customers don’t see that. The only time in recent memory that the customers could sense something wrong was the day that I ate a banana on my lunch hour that for some reason didn’t agree with me, and I was feeling really bad afterwards, and I looked like I was feeling bad, and the customers picked up on it, with one even asking me if everything was all right. I think I ended up taking like six Tums for that, in an attempt to feel better. I did end up feeling better before the day was out, though.
Continue reading…Categories: Retail
The only thing wrong with the Lappy is…
< 1 minute read
October 16, 2006, 2:45 AM
…the battery. I checked the Lappy out from top to bottom, and the only thing wrong with it is the battery. I got only ten minutes of life out of the battery before it started screaming for its AC adaptor. It went from full to zero in a very short time. I did a little research on it, and I’ve determined that during Mom’s time with it, she made good use out of the battery, and it basically won’t hold a charge anymore.
I’m going to Charlottesville on Monday anyway to get a new shoulder strap for my camera bag, and so I’ll probably swing by Batteries Plus or somewhere like that for a new battery for my Lappy while I’m at it.
Also, I’ve determined that the new notepad cover that I discussed here will be just fine for logging Metro trains. I took it with me on my most recent DC trip, set the paper up with the proper columns to be my transit log, and stuffed it in my bag. And all in all, it worked. The pad that came with it holds only ten trains per page, down from fifteen on the old notepad, but it works for me. Unless I have something like the fourth of July where I rode 23 separate trains, two pages per trip will work just fine. In my DC trips since July 4, I average 14.5 trains per trip. So in short: no problem. So my search for a notepad is over. Thank goodness.
Scroll buttons and the Lappy, together at last…
< 1 minute read
October 14, 2006, 12:36 AM
Now this is an interesting way to compute. I’m sitting in my recliner, going tappity-tappity-tappity away on the Lappy, which is now very much customized to my own needs. I installed Firefox on here and imported my bookmarks, I put a nice background on the desktop, and arranged everything the way I like it.
Yes, the Lappy is going to make a great mobile workstation. I’ve even set it up to print to my real printer via our home network. Just hit “print” and the document is waiting for me at my desk, ready to pick up. That makes my life quite easy, and also puts that printer/scanner/copier that I paid ninety dollars for to good use on not one but two computers.
Right now, though, I’m just tickled that I can compute from anywhere…
Categories: Computer
A photo of my camera bag’s damaged shoulder strap…
< 1 minute read
October 13, 2006, 9:00 PM
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and so here’s a photo of the broken strap on my camera bag, originally referenced here:
Categories: Cameras
This was perhaps one of my scariest return trips from DC…
2 minute read
October 13, 2006, 12:47 AM
On my DC trips, for the run up to Vienna and the run back home, the goal is for the actual driving to be uneventful, and therefore forgettable. As you probably guessed, having had so many of these things, I don’t always get what I want.
I remember one time in May 2004 when I had a blowout on the way up. It happened on I-81, near Mt. Crawford. Thus this happened about 30 minutes into the trip. AAA put the spare tire on, and I continued to DC. The return leg of that trip was uneventful. Then there was the time in June 2004 when it was raining hard all the way to Vienna, culminating in a soaking of the Previa’s undercarriage right at the Nutley Street exit, which caused the car to strain at 25 mph for that last little bit into the parking space. Then there have been numerous return trips where I’ve gotten so fatigued that I have to stop en route and take a nap. Then there was January 17, 2004, and also January 20, 2005 – on those return trips, I had to battle snow almost the entire way back.
I feel like such a loser… a resourceful loser, but a loser nonetheless.
2 minute read
October 11, 2006, 7:39 PM
For those of you wondering about the title, the strap on my camera bag broke. I got off of Breda 2007 at Pentagon City, and was heading for the escalator, and all of a sudden, my camera bag started falling. I caught it, but nonetheless had no working strap. The clip that attaches the strap to the bag on the “leading” end (i.e. the side facing ahead when I’m carrying it, as opposed to the “trailing” side facing behind) snapped off.
Now I’d had warning that the aforementioned clip was having issues. When I was getting ready to go into Union Station today, that same clip slipped off the hook. But then I just reattached it. This time, it actually snapped off, rendering it unreclippable (if that’s not a word, it is now).
So I went to the station manager and asked if he had any string. No string. I didn’t think he’d have any, but it never hurts. So I thought for a second. A rubber band might also work in the same capacity as string in this case. So I asked, “Do you have any rubber bands?” He did! He even offered to give me a few. I took two, and went to work. The station manager even held the strap in place for me while I tied. I tied a number of knots in that rubber band, securing the remnants of that end of the strap to the bag.
Categories: DC trips
If you ever wanted to know what a BSOD looks like on a dual-monitor configuration, here it is.
< 1 minute read
October 9, 2006, 1:46 AM
In my nearly two years of having a dual-monitor configuration, I believe that tonight was the first time that I’ve had the Blue Screen of Death. And I was surprised to see how it went. Take a look…
Categories: Computer
I have taken possession of the laptop…
< 1 minute read
October 3, 2006, 7:58 PM
I’ve officially taken possession of Mom’s old laptop, which means that I will finally have a mobile station with a wireless card for whatever. Think about when I take a really long-distance trip where I take a photo set, like when I went to Breezewood in May (and I’m embarrassed to say that five months later, still no photo set). I would be able to review my shots while still on site, and start that ball rolling early – perhaps re-shoot some photos that came out poorly before leaving. It opens the door to the possibility.
But first, I have to fix it all up. Mom wouldn’t let me format it and start with a clean slate when she was using it. Now I’m reformatting that puppy. It’s all getting redone from scratch, since she always had issues with that thing. Now that I’m moving in, it’s going to run like it’s mine.
Then once that gets done, I’m going to temporarily move in completely in order to do some work on my real computer. It’s not the second rehabilitation that I’d spoken about before, but I do want to redo some stuff.
Categories: Computer
You know what they say…
< 1 minute read
October 2, 2006, 8:54 AM
You know what they say… what’s worse than being seasick once? Being seasick twice, of course!
Okay, I just wanted to throw that one out there.
Meanwhile, I’ve misread my schedule at work a few times over nearly three years with Wal-Mart, but this one was particularly amusing. Today, I showed up for work four hours early. I showed up at 7:00 AM – sharp – and I didn’t have to be there until 11. That one was almost as bad as the time when I thought I was off Wednesday and Thursday of a particular week, rather than off Tuesday and Wednesday of that week. I showed up at 7:00 AM – sharp – and had my vest on and everything, went to clock in, and the timeclock kicked me out, since I wasn’t scheduled. Turned out that they needed an extra person on Tuesday, so they were able to accommodate my mistake, thank goodness.
Today, the question soon turned to what to do for four hours. I think I spent the time wisely. I went to Shoney’s, had a nice breakfast, and read The Washington Post. The Post is always a good read, when I have the time. I can polish off the Staunton News Leader in fifteen minutes on a slow news day. Then another ten minutes and I can knock out the Waynesboro News-Virginian. A slow news day with The Washington Post will take at least an hour.
And now, here I am, writing to you from the Augusta County Library, which is between Shoney’s in Staunton (I won’t go to the one in Waynesboro) and work.
So there you go.
Categories: Walmart
My kingdom for a notepad cover!
3 minute read
October 1, 2006, 10:20 PM
Remember back in October 2004, when I wrote this Journal entry? It was about when a company called Myron sent me a notepad with a flip-top cover as a free sample, printed with the name of my father’s consulting business, “Evolved Quality Consulting”.
I actually started using that notepad back in August 2005, and still do. I’ve actually refilled the notepad twice since I got it. I use it to log the transit vehicles that I ride in. For instance, this is what I logged in my little notepad on September 24, 2005:
Categories: Products
“Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them, Cannon in front of them…”
2 minute read
September 30, 2006, 10:46 PM
I’m watching the episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air on Nick at Nite where they get “Rafael de la Ghetto”, the allegedly famous poet, in to read poetry. Of course, it’s really Geoffrey the butler in an afro wig and a dashiki. It’s one of my favorite Fresh Prince episodes.
And with Jazz mentioning that finding someone literate to play Raphael de la Ghetto would cost Will “an extra two Jacksons” reminds me of something I’ve been thinking about lately. Have you noticed that in the two most recent incarnations of the US $20 bill, that they “softened” Andrew Jackson’s appearance? No? Take a look for yourself:
Categories: Amusing, Television
Just speak directly into the clown’s mouth…
2 minute read
September 29, 2006, 4:33 PM
Here’s a new experience for all of you coffee drinkers. I went through the drive-through window at Starbucks in Waynesboro for the first time today. And for the record, the phrase “Starbucks in Waynesboro” still sounds VERY weird. But that’s besides the point. It was weird going up to a drive-through window and ordering coffee. Usually, when I go through a drive-through window, it’s for something that I probably shouldn’t be eating in the first place. Ordering a hot cup of joe from the car just seemed so foreign to me.
But it was painless enough. Study the menu, and then order your coffee. I ordered the venti regular coffee. The next question caught me a touch off-guard: “Would you like cream of sugar with that?” Ummmmmmm… So yeah, that threw me for a loop. But we managed. I wanted my coffee straight anyway, so I just declined. Maybe one day I’ll become good at ordering coffee from the car.
Then around at the pickup window, I paid with a card, and got my coffee, complete with one of those don’t-burn-your-hands rings on it. I didn’t actually get to enjoy the coffee until I got home, though, as it was WAY too hot to even think about drinking when I got it. It sat in my cup holder all the way home. So driving home, I was thinking, for the love of God, don’t upset the coffee! You see, I can handle crumbs. But I don’t want to have to get coffee off of my leather seats.
Categories: Food and drink
And here it is…
< 1 minute read
September 29, 2006, 4:11 PM
As you can see, the Sable is BACK!
The new grille is in place, and the dents have all been repaired. I am whole again.
Categories: Mercury Sable
The Sable is BACK!
< 1 minute read
September 29, 2006, 12:12 AM
The Sable has returned, and now it’s got a brand new grille, a new windshield, and all the dents from the deer accident have been repaired. So basically, it’s good as new. And I also still have the original grille.
The only major difference is in the windshield. The original windshield was plain all the way up. On the other hand, the new windshield is tinted blue at the very top.
They also detailed the whole car in and out, so it’s looking just gorgeous. We’ll see how long that lasts, but I’m going to make it last as long as possible.
And of course, I’m out of Sis’s car again. Trust me, once one takes a ride in my Sable, and especially once one has become accustomed to it, it’s hard to go anywhere else. I’ve come to enjoy my leather seats, and I also have more legroom in the Sable.
As you can tell, and as if the present photo feature wasn’t a BIG hint, I’m so glad that the Sable’s in one piece again.
Categories: Mercury Sable