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Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
tweekers
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5:22p
Pointy Ice :-/
After updating last night I had a bit
of a panic when I disconnected from the internet and couldn't get back
on for an hour, I can only assume there was a problem with my ISP; I
was certainly relieved when I got back and could continue my chats with
Dread and Spacefan on IRC. When I went off
line I wasn't feeling to hungry at first so watched the remake of Solaris which I'd recorded the day
before and the final episode of Last
Exile on DVD.
This morning when I came on line I made a start to my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing and posted a review of Solaris on the IMDb. While doing that I chatted to Maz, Bianca and Thizzley in #futuramachat,
to CowboyRaver and Durel in #spacefem and to Mandy on MSN. When I went outside to
dispose of the dregs from my coffee I trod on a pointy piece of ice
which was rather painful and bruised my foot.
After lunch I had a nap and a soak in the bath before coming back on
line and finishing my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing while chatting to Dread,
Morgrim, Kayura, Blusk and Zionite in #dataclaw, FYP in #futuramachat
Mandy on MSN and to Daka on
Yahoo.
current mood:  cheerful
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(comment on this) Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
spacefem
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4:33p
quick pig update
He doesn't have a broken leg.
We went to a new vet this time, one that's on the guinea lynx recommended vet list and could get him in a little quicker. This one was of course worried about the breathing issue, and thinks it's an infection. I told him Billy was already on antibiotics but I didn't know what type, the bottle just says "antibiotics". So he said "I want to try this kind. If he's not better in 7-10 days call me."
I have to admit, hearing "better in 7-10 days" is a lot better than our other vet, who told us Billy was just incurable. So who knows.
He says the xrays showed no fracture. He is limping around not using that leg but that's understandable since it looks like he knocked a toenail off. He bled all over the place last night. But the vet says that should heal soon.
He also says he doesn't see a mass of scar tissue in his lungs. I'm so confused. But okay.
It's sort of crazy to go through all this for a guinea pig isn't it? Good thing we really like this one.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
tweekers
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5:47p
A quiet day
When I went off line yesterday I made
my supper before watching this week's episode of Wallander which I had recorded on
Saturday and an episode of Madlax
on DVD. When I went to bed it was snowing quite heavily and had been
for a few hours so I was rather surprised when there didn't appear to
my much more snow in the morning, I assumed it must have got warmer in
the night.
Once up today I came on line and made most of my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing and wrote a review of Wallander on the IMDb. While doing that I chatted to Morgan, Maz, Bianca and Books in #futuramachat,
to Dread and Zionite in #dataclaw and to Mandy on MSN. Later I watched the
penultimate episode of Defying Gravity
on the BBC iPlayer before
posting a review of it.
After lunch I had a short nap before coming back on line and finishing
my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing while chatting to Mandy
on MSN and to Dread and Kayura in #dataclaw. I also watched
the final episode of Defying Gravity
and posted reviews of the episode
and the series as a whole.
current mood: good
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(comment on this)
spacefem
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10:10a
billy's leg
I dropped billy. Freaking hell. Like, he wasn't sick enough so I decide to throw him on the floor? I had given him his medicine, we hung out and snuggled, he was lounging up by my neck but I thought it'd been long enough he might want to just be home so I put my hands around him and walked to the cage. He hadn't been really squiggly until he saw the cage, then he suddenly decided to dive for it. He was about at my waist level when I really lost hold of him, he hit the edge of the cage with a leg and dropped to the floor. And now that leg is screwed up. We were up until 1 in the morning watching him, then I woke up this morning and called two vets to see who could get him in early and neither one really could. One said if we dropped him off, they might just be able to take a look before 3:30, so marc took him there.
On top of feeling like a terrible person, I'm also just really mad because when I googled information about guinea pigs with broken legs I mostly came across people wanting advice that did NOT involve a veterinarian. Because they "didn't have the money". I'm sorry but I think it's really irresponsible to own a pet if you don't have the resources to take care of it. I know guinea pigs are only $30, but that doesn't mean you should get one just because you happen to have $30. It's not a x-box, it's a life!
rant over. obviously I can't pose like the most responsible pet owner ever since I just dropped my piggy, but let's face it, we've been medicating the little guy for two months. That's a lot of handling, having him in and out of the cage, holding him, etc. I've probably held him 100 times without dropping him. I hate myself, and I feel horrible, but that won't fix him now.
Keep good thoughts up for us. I'll update when they call back, hopefully soon.
I'm going to go see how much calcium I'm getting in these damn prenatal vitamins, I really hope my baby has strong bones.
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(4 comments | comment on this) Monday, December 21st, 2009
tweekers
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6:14p
Cold Feet :-P
Last night after updating I watched a
couple of episodes of Defying Gravity
on the BBC iPlayer, I had
recorded it but wasn't sure when I'd have time to watch the recording
as there is so much stuff I want to watch over the next couple of
weeks. I went off line later than usual and watched the concluding part
of The Poisoner.
When I got up today I came on line and made a start to my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing and posted a review of The Poisoner on the IMDb. While doing that I chatted to Dread and Zionite in #dataclaw, to CowboyRaver in #spacefem and to Mandy on MSN. I wanted to find
something mildly amusing to post on PEEL
and Spacefem's forum so went
for a walk in the snow... my feet were a little chilly afterwards.
Chilly Feet
After lunch I had a short rest, when I got up again I was pleased to
find the DVD boxed set of the Futurama
films I'd ordered from Amazon had arrived, it was worth waiting for
them to come out in a boxed set as not only was it considerably cheaper
than buying them separately but they are in thin cases so take up far
less room. I then had a soak in the bath before coming back on line and
finishing my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing, later on I watched this week's episode of Top Gear on the BBC iPlayer.
current mood: amused
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(comment on this)
spacefem
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9:01a
home-buying aspirations
Most of you know that I've been proudly renting apartments for the past seven years. When I first got my job, the guys I worked with told me it was STUPID to rent because it's "throwing money away" and I needed to be saving money for a house now, get in with the smallest downpayment possible, just get in! Well I ignored them. At the time I was paying $400/mo for my apartment, and the kind of house I wanted was going to cost a great deal more than that. I could put the extra money into savings, and did. And I knew that your first few years in a house you only pay like $100/mo off the principal, so if I could put more than that into savings I was getting way more cash built up than equity. Sorry for the boring paragraph just explaining things, plus it sums up my general attitude about renting: It's a good thing. Am I paying a lot now? Sure. But I don't have any "surprise, you need $10,000 for a new sewer line!" sorts of issues that come up like homeowners do.
That all said, I really think I need to buy a house next year. The big thing is that I'm having a baby and there's no room for it here. Marc and I are in a split-level "one bedroom" that has no walls. I often feel like with just the two of us, we're outgrowing it. An office would be nice. A basement for storage would be nice. A second bathroom would br PRICELESS. And finally, a room for the baby, where we can close the door and watch TV someplace else while it snoozes away.
Last year we kinda looked at some places, but after about two days of cruising neighborhoods on Sunday afternoons for open houses we decided we weren't ready. We couldn't really afford anything we liked and didn't really like anything we could afford. Plus there was no hurry, not like we were having a baby or anything. So we signed another one-year lease on the apartment. I got pregnant right after we signed the lease. The timing was outright weird.
So here's the timeline we're considering:
- April 1 - $8000 tax credit for first-time home buyers goes away. If we've "bought" the house by then we get the credit, if not too bad.
- June 11 - have a baby. I should mention that I have a family history of late babies.
- July 1 - Close on the house to get $8000 tax credit.
- August 31 - lease is up. Getting out of the least before that costs about $2000
If it weren't for that damn tax credit timing, I'd just chill out and get a house when our lease is up in August, or even a little after, September could be "move/overlap" month. I don't worry much about bringing a newborn into the apartment, they don't need much stuff, kids don't even sleep in cribs until they're 3-4 months old. We just need diapers and a dresser drawer. And there are benefits to bringing a new baby home to this silly little apartment... we have fleets of neighbors here who love us, and would love to be part of all this. It'd be adorable to put an "it's a girl!" sign on our door. (if it's a girl. still hoping.)
But the tax credit drives all these other questions into my head, maybe we should try doing this earlier. Close by July 1? So in June, we'd have a baby and close on a house... does that sound too busy? Maybe we could close before that, and try to move out of the apartment while I'm eight months pregnant?
I read a real estate article once that said "First time buyers should know that the right time to buy a house is whenever YOU are ready to buy a house. Do not try to time the markets or take advantage of amazing offers, just buy when you're ready, this is your home you're talking about." And Rich Dad, Poor Dad also really stresses the fact that a house should not be your big investment asset... it's just where you live. So don't think too much about money. Just live there.
The other thought in my head is that the tax credit has already been extended once, and may very well be again. If we buy in August and they don't extend for us, well, it wasn't really our money to begin with was it? I don't feel so bad gambling with money that isn't mine.
It feels like such a maze.
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(13 comments | comment on this) Sunday, December 20th, 2009
spacefem
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5:06p
girl party
First, can I post a pigture I took recently?
This is The Brain. He is truly wise. You can ask him questions, and he will meditate quietly until finding a clear answer (as shown below).
he also likes sniffing. and shedding long white hair on things.
In other news, I spent the weekend in Topeka with my sister where her friends were throwing their annual Lenaia party. This is loosely based on an ancient Greek festival, but their idea is that a bunch of women get together to celebrate womanhood, drink white cosmopolitans, get their feminist rants off their chest, dance, laugh, be merry. Great party! I enjoyed being with a group of women who weren't selling junk or showering someone.
I took a nap in the afternoon before driving to Topeka and still got THE SLEEPIES in a bad way. Around midnight or 1, I was just about to lose it. Finally one of the girls at the party must have noticed, and said if I felt like I needed to lay down I was welcome to go upstairs and invade somebody's room and I was like, "Oh thanks, I'm having a great time! Might just go up and stretch out a bit though."
three hour later I was totally rested and ready to party, but everyone else was going home, so crap. Everybody was cool about it and totally blaming it on the pregnancy but I gotta be honest... I like sleeping, and this is not the first time I've crashed a little early at a party for no real reason.
Here's the conversation of the night... some gals brought up the fact that my sister and I get along so well, it's amazing we have so much in common. At first I was like "What? She totally let me down forever, she's not an engineer." They were like "But you still get along so well then, how come?" I thought about it a bit. Then finally said, "Well I'm proud of her... I mean maybe she's not an engineer but I still feel like she's a nerd in her own way and that's what's important." They all quickly agreed... Nerd definitely! It was the sort of agreement you don't really want your close friends to have about you that instantly, I don't remember if she was around or not. But anyway, there are technical nerds, but if you look at the broader term it really means "one who totally over-researches things that other people cannot possibly relate to their interest in." And that's her. You can be tall, good-looking, have friends, throw good parties... and yet those close to you will still know the truth. And love you for it, if they're nerds, or if they're just loving people, it works either way.
And it's sad but I've met a lot of non-nerd engineers. They're horrible. They seem to have fallen into the field by flipping a coin, and stayed because it's a steady paycheck, but the passion just isn't there. I don't see how they can be that good at what they do. Get up, come to work, complain, go home, watch sitcoms, join the softball league, mow the yard. And that's about the highlight. You think these people can't end up in technical fields but they seep in. We have nothing in common.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
tweekers
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5:06p
More Snow
Yesterday when I went off line I made
my supper before watching Donkey
Punch and The Black Dahlia,
two films I'd recorded the night before, I wouldn't normally stay up so
late but there are so many films on over the Christmas holidays which I
want to watch that I'd run out of tapes if I didn't watch them straight
away.
It was a good thing that my brother had postponed his visit as even
more snow had fallen over night and being so cold it didn't thaw at all
during the day so even if they had come they'd have had to leave early
before the roads iced over again. When I got up I came on line and made
half my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing and posted a review of Donkey Punch on the IMDb. While doing that I chatted with RD in #spacefem and to Maz, Bianca, Mole, Guest and Books in #futuramachat.
After lunch I had a short nap before coming back on line and finishing
my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing while chatting to Mandy
on MSN and to Durel, Morgrim, Idony, Pers, Zionite and Tarwedge in #dataclaw. Later I
posted a review of The Black Dahlia
on the IMDb and listened to a radio adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda.
current mood: cheerful
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(comment on this) Saturday, December 19th, 2009
spacefem
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2:03p
some rambling, some pictures, some pregnancy
I'm really trying to keep the lj balanced these days and think I'm doing a pretty good job. The ratios I'm aiming for:
- 30% pilot adventures
- 25% pregnancy updates
- 10% guinea pigs
- 35% observations about the world
It could happen. I probably need more observations but I'm doing okay. To be honest, when I look back on my old lj entries sometimes I wish I wrote more about current events and things, more "time capsule" kinda stuff.
But today's entry is about pregnancy. I decided to take some pictures of myself, because ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) humaazul is convinced I'm hiding something. Also even though I don't think I look different, I realized that if I don't take pictures now I'll never know when I DO start looking different. The changes are so gradual. Even with my clothes, it wasn't like I woke up one day and they didn't fit, it changed with the days and the times and still in the mornings I think a lot of stuff fits just fine.
( Read more... )
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(20 comments | comment on this)
tweekers
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6:23p
Sunny Day
Last night after updating I watched
the next episode of Bamboo Blade
on Funimation's YouTube
Channel, I also had a brief natter to Randi on AIM. When I went off line I
made my supper before watching the concluding episode of Mister Eleven which I'd recorded
earlier in the evening and an episode each of Last Exile and Madlax on DVD.
This morning when I got up I looked out of the window and saw that no
new snow had fallen however none appeared to have melted either leading
me to think that my brother and his family wouldn't be visiting us
tomorrow; a later phone call confirmed this, hopefully they'll be able
to come here in the week after Christmas though. When I came on line I
made a start to my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing while posting a review of Mister Eleven on the IMDb. Later I watched another episode
of Bamboo Blade. When the
post arrived I was happy to find I'd received a Christmas card from Lucy.
After lunch I had a short nap and a bath before going for a short walk;
the weather was much better than yesterday. Once back I finished my
moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing where I chatted to Desdemona,
I also chatted to Dread, Idony and Zionite in #dataclaw and to Spacefan and DiscoDino in #futuramachat.
current mood: cheerful
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(comment on this) Friday, December 18th, 2009
tweekers
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5:14p
Heavy Snow
Yesterday evening I watched an
episode of Last Exile on DVD
and later chatted to Spacefan
in #futuramachat.
When I went off line I made my supper before watching Wednesday's
episodes of Spooks and True Blood and another episode of Last Exile.
I woke early this morning when a power cut caused my video recorder to
make a noise, thankfully it wasn't recording anything at the time. Once
up I saw that it was snowing heavily and took some pictures, they came
out better than I expected, the flash really picked up the falling snow.
Night time snow
When I came on line I made a start to my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing and posted reviews of Spooks and True Blood on the IMDb. While doing that I had an
enjoyable chat to Spacefan, Thizzley, Bianca and DeliveryBoy in #futuramachat.
After lunch I decided to have a walk to take some pictures in the snow
however it was snowing so heavily it wasn't possible to get any good
pictures as snow flakes kept getting on the lens, by the time I got
home I must have looked like a snowman as I was caked in the stuff.
Once back I had a short lie down before coming back on line and
finishing my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing and chatting to Maz,
FYP and Spacefan in #futuramachat
and to Dread, Morgrim and Blusk in #dataclaw. While doing that
I listened to Mark Kermode's Film
Reviews on BBC Radio Five.
current mood:  cold
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(comment on this)
spacefem
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6:09a
christmas inaction
my Christmas slacking has reached amazing levels of non-motivation this year.
Never did get decorations up. Every other year we do a TREE... buy a real one, deck it out with blinky lights and ornaments. This year was not that year so I got out the little three-foot fake one I've had since college and set it on our side table... and that was as far as we got. I never put anything on it! Finally marc put a CD on one of the branches. It's pretty bad. Oh, it's got a tree skirt. That's about the highlight.
I bought my first Christmas present for someone on Wednesday. There were no catalog orders this year, because I was too far behind.
I'm hoping the weekend gets me in the spirit. It's early mall people-watching weekend! I do look forward to this. Every year on the saturday before Christmas when I know it'll get crazy out there I get up and go to the mall at 8 or 9 in the morning. The stores are all open early special hours but most people don't know about it, or are too lazy to come in early. I get a good parking place then watch the crowds swell around me.
Also this year marc and I have done a lot of driving around Wichita looking at Christmas lights, that's fun. It seems like in every neighborhood, rich or poor, someone goes all out with the lights. I'd want to do that with my house someday but I can't kid myself, if I can't even be bothered to light up a tree every year what makes me think I could haul 900 pounds of inflatable santas and icicle strings up from a basement? I just have to admire those who do it, every year.
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(4 comments | comment on this) Thursday, December 17th, 2009
tweekers
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5:35p
Interesting Weather
Last night after I updated I watched
another episode of Last Exile
and the concluding episode of Noir
on DVD. Later on I chatted to Spacefan
in #futuramachat
and to Daka on Yahoo. When I
went off line I made my supper before watching Kamikaze Girls, the film I had
recorded the night before, while it was noticeable where it had stopped
recording it didn't spoil the excellent film.
This morning when I got up I came on line and made half my moves in the
Kingdom
of
Loathing and posted a review of Kamikaze Girls on the IMDb. While doing that I chatted to Randi, Thizzley, Bianca, Morgan and FYP in #futuramachat,
to CowboyRaver, Mousy and Arcanthus in #spacefem and to Dread and Blusk in #dataclaw, I also spoke to Randi on AIM and to Juliet and Mandy on MSN. Early in the morning
we had a heavy hail storm that covered the road in a way that made it
look like it had been snowing.
After lunch I had a nap and a soak in the bath before coming back on
line and finishing my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing while chatting to Mandy
on MSN, to Durel in #spacefem and to Kayura, Morgrim, Dread, Idony and Blusk in #dataclaw. I also posted a
little bit on PEEL.
current mood: cold
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(comment on this) Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
tweekers
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5:17p
Video problem :-/
After updating yesterday I watched
this week's episode of An Island
Parish in the BBC
iPlayer and an episode each of Noir
and Last Exile on DVD. I also
had a chat to Spacefan in #futuramachat
and in #dataclaw I spoke to Dread,
Idony, Zionite and Tarwedge. When I went off line I
watched the penultimate episode of Paradox
and another episode each of Noir
and Last Exile. During the
night I was awakened when my video stopped recording, I looked at the
time and realised that it had stopped early this was rather frustrating
as the remote needed to restarted was downstairs, I rushed down to get
it but by the time it was recording again a few minutes must have
passed.
When I got up today I made a start to my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing while writing a review of this week's episode of Paradox
on the IMDb. In #spacefem I had a natter to CowboyRaver and in #dataclaw I
chatted to Idony and Stranger, I also chatted to Mandy and Juliet on MSN.
After lunch I had a nap before coming back on line and chatting to Mandy again while finishing my moves
in the Kingdom
of
Loathing. Later on I spoke to MJ
in #futuramachat.
current mood: good
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(comment on this) Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
tweekers
|
5:30p
Tree Cutting
Yesterday evening shortly before I
went off line I had a chat to Spacefan
on IRC. Once off line I made a plate of beans on toast before watching
the first part of The Poisoner,
a two part French drama, followed by an episode of Last Exile on DVD.
This morning when I got up I came on line and made my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing where I was pleased to find new Christmas content, while
doing that I chatted to Morgan,
Bianca, Maz and Books in #futuramachat
and to Juliet on MSN. I popped
off line mid-morning to cut down our Christmas tree, it is actually
just a branch from a tree in the garden. While doing that I managed to
catch a finger in the stepladders which gave me a cut on the knuckle,
thankfully it didn't bleed too much.
After lunch I had a short nap and a bath before coming back on line and
finishing my moves in the Kingdom
of
Loathing, while doing that I chatted to Mandy on MSN, to Durel in #spacefem and to Morgrim, Pers, Blusk and Kor in #dataclaw. I noticed a Great
Tit in the tree outside the window and managed to get a reasonable
picture even though it was starting to get dark.
Great Tit
current mood: cheerful
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(comment on this)
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