Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Baby Names
Friday, September 17, 2010
No More Cable
I did it! I just got off the phone and I'm happy to say after about 9 months of searching I've finally found cheap internet and locked in the deal. The technician is coming next Saturday to switch me over.
My internet/cable monthly charge kept steadily going up. I'd call periodically and they'd knock off some $$, but then it would creep back up. No reason - I wasn't adding services, buying on-demand movies or anything. This summer my cable went out and with traveling and everything I haven't been able to get it fixed yet. I hooked the rabbit ears back up and found I miss the days of snow. It's really hard to watch a TV show without the signal dropping out. Sigh. But on the upside, most of what I want to watch isn't on TV it's on Netflix or Hulu or other websites.
This summer I was working up a new budget and wanted to cut my expenses down. Dropping cable from my current provider saved me something ridiculous like $20 a month. So I hunted and hunted and hunted and am now switching providers. I was on the phone for awhile while they tried to hunt the deal down. It wouldn't register on their website (was double the promotional amount) and I finally got switched over to a special department that was privy to this great deal. Very strange, but I'm happy with the deal. And I asked like three times - my monthly bill will be the same each month. The rate is locked in for the first year and than just goes up slightly to a second rate the second year. Now fingers crossed the services is the same.
It's been just under two years that I enjoyed my new cable. Technically it's been about 18 months since it's been out this summer. I quickly got into my groove - watching specific channels and ignoring the vast sea of other channels out there. I miss it sometimes when I want to just crash and zone out and flip through channels and watch nothing. But then that never left me with a good feeling afterwards. Plus the shows I wanted to watch always seemed to be on when I was out. Internet watching is equivalent to on-demand almost, without the cost.
I'll never be one of those people who say they don't watch TV (personally it annoys me when people say that). I've discovered and been enriched by so much televisonland provides. Plus it's part of our culture. I like being connected or other times, escaping into another world.
So my cable is cut, I'm back to life with the old rabbit ears and just bought a Roku Player to stream my Netflix that's scheduled to arrive next week. I can't wait!
My internet/cable monthly charge kept steadily going up. I'd call periodically and they'd knock off some $$, but then it would creep back up. No reason - I wasn't adding services, buying on-demand movies or anything. This summer my cable went out and with traveling and everything I haven't been able to get it fixed yet. I hooked the rabbit ears back up and found I miss the days of snow. It's really hard to watch a TV show without the signal dropping out. Sigh. But on the upside, most of what I want to watch isn't on TV it's on Netflix or Hulu or other websites.
This summer I was working up a new budget and wanted to cut my expenses down. Dropping cable from my current provider saved me something ridiculous like $20 a month. So I hunted and hunted and hunted and am now switching providers. I was on the phone for awhile while they tried to hunt the deal down. It wouldn't register on their website (was double the promotional amount) and I finally got switched over to a special department that was privy to this great deal. Very strange, but I'm happy with the deal. And I asked like three times - my monthly bill will be the same each month. The rate is locked in for the first year and than just goes up slightly to a second rate the second year. Now fingers crossed the services is the same.
It's been just under two years that I enjoyed my new cable. Technically it's been about 18 months since it's been out this summer. I quickly got into my groove - watching specific channels and ignoring the vast sea of other channels out there. I miss it sometimes when I want to just crash and zone out and flip through channels and watch nothing. But then that never left me with a good feeling afterwards. Plus the shows I wanted to watch always seemed to be on when I was out. Internet watching is equivalent to on-demand almost, without the cost.
I'll never be one of those people who say they don't watch TV (personally it annoys me when people say that). I've discovered and been enriched by so much televisonland provides. Plus it's part of our culture. I like being connected or other times, escaping into another world.
So my cable is cut, I'm back to life with the old rabbit ears and just bought a Roku Player to stream my Netflix that's scheduled to arrive next week. I can't wait!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Random Thursday Posting
1. We moved offices last month. I’ve been striking up random conversations with strangers in my new building each day. In the elevator, in the kitchen, who knows where next. It’s been rewarding so far and good practice. The only thing I’m worried is that I’ll forget a face and ignore someone in the future. It used to be just names I couldn’t hold on to. Now it’s faces too. Ah, old age!
2. I was at a bus stop yesterday and this older gentleman walked up to me and randomly asks me what day it was. He is adamant I tell him the day of the week not the date. It was a weird question and he just thanked me and walked away after. The scary thing was that it took me awhile to remember the answer was Wednesday. So maybe not such a bad question after all.
3. I got a ride from a friend last night and got to check out the new 500 series BMW. Some cool new features but I’ve got to say, I’d still choose my little ol’ Infiniti over that car. Plus save a ton of money too!
4. I checked out Ted. Saw it on a white people post. Listening to one of the episodes I learned that the false sleeping patterns we all experience has really come at a cost. I love not using an alarm clock. And thought I had a pretty good natural cycle. And yet I’m dog tired recently. The speaker was saying that people who did not use artificial light would sleep twice a night: from 8 to midnight and than from 2 am to sunrise. And in between there was a quiet meditative time where there was a surge of prolactin (happy mood hormone). The kicker being that they were super invigorated during the day – a completely different person. If only the days weren’t getting so short, I might give it a go.
5. I checked on the shawl yesterday. I got it pretty much blocked and pinned out before I practically passed out from being tired. It looks good. I unpinned a few tips and it stayed the same shape. I missed one spot and kind of want it a little more perfect. So am considering spraying it and re-blocking tomorrow night. We’ll see. Pictures soon, I promise.
6. I was waiting in the park by my office building at lunch for a friend, watching the people go by. When I noticed this lady I see on the bus all the time. Turns out we work in the same building. It was a little strange. My friend asked if I talk with her and I replied that I don’t like to talk with people on the bus much. It’s my time to relax and decompress. Not really up for chit chat.
2. I was at a bus stop yesterday and this older gentleman walked up to me and randomly asks me what day it was. He is adamant I tell him the day of the week not the date. It was a weird question and he just thanked me and walked away after. The scary thing was that it took me awhile to remember the answer was Wednesday. So maybe not such a bad question after all.
3. I got a ride from a friend last night and got to check out the new 500 series BMW. Some cool new features but I’ve got to say, I’d still choose my little ol’ Infiniti over that car. Plus save a ton of money too!
4. I checked out Ted. Saw it on a white people post. Listening to one of the episodes I learned that the false sleeping patterns we all experience has really come at a cost. I love not using an alarm clock. And thought I had a pretty good natural cycle. And yet I’m dog tired recently. The speaker was saying that people who did not use artificial light would sleep twice a night: from 8 to midnight and than from 2 am to sunrise. And in between there was a quiet meditative time where there was a surge of prolactin (happy mood hormone). The kicker being that they were super invigorated during the day – a completely different person. If only the days weren’t getting so short, I might give it a go.
5. I checked on the shawl yesterday. I got it pretty much blocked and pinned out before I practically passed out from being tired. It looks good. I unpinned a few tips and it stayed the same shape. I missed one spot and kind of want it a little more perfect. So am considering spraying it and re-blocking tomorrow night. We’ll see. Pictures soon, I promise.
6. I was waiting in the park by my office building at lunch for a friend, watching the people go by. When I noticed this lady I see on the bus all the time. Turns out we work in the same building. It was a little strange. My friend asked if I talk with her and I replied that I don’t like to talk with people on the bus much. It’s my time to relax and decompress. Not really up for chit chat.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Police + Wristcutters
Friday I was heading home after a late night of working. I was looking forward to making it home and crashing and knowing I didn’t have anywhere to go the next morning – no work, no trips out of town. I get off the bus and go to cross the busy street. I look left and there is a lone car in the dark that sees me and comes to a stop. Turns out it’s a police car. I was reminded of the experience I had last fall. I look right and see the light had just released a bunch of cars. I’m waiting to see if they’ll stop before proceeding and with this sense of déjà vu I’m also half waiting to see if the blue lights come on from the police car to help stop the traffic for me.
I’m just about to step foot on the sidewalk on the other side when I notice the blue lights flashing out of the corner of my eye. I’m confused for a moment until I turn and look and see that this police car took a different approach. There was one car that didn’t stop and I see the police car had pulled a U-turn and has gone after the driver. I kind of feel badly, for being the cause of a potential ticket, especially since I’m not sure if I wouldn’t have done the same if I was driving. He would have slammed the brakes on. Anyways, sorry dude, if you got a ticket because of me.
Last night I was fighting the pattern I’ve had lately: on way home acquire headache, get home feed cats, and crash only to wake up hours later and drag myself into bed. I’ve been so tired recently. It’s really strange. Until I started talking to others. Looks like it probably has something to do with the sudden change in weather. Pressure drop? So last night, I put on an easy meal (cheese fondue – mmm) and pop in the latest Netflix flick.
Note here that I mainly use the streaming part of Netflix these days so my queue for movies to be mailed is from awhile ago. A long while ago. Sometimes movies arrive and I think, “huh” and that I need to get online and review my queue. But I never do. Last night I watch the previews and they’re alll about horror and thrillers. I get a little worried, as I do love myself a good horror film, but have learned to watch it during the day, not at night home alone. The movie is called, Wristcutters: A Love Story. It’s a sweet strange movie set in the afterlife suicide people live in. A little surreal especially when watching while very tired. But I made it to my regular bed time and enjoyed the movie. Still wondering what led me to stumble upon it in the first place.
I’m just about to step foot on the sidewalk on the other side when I notice the blue lights flashing out of the corner of my eye. I’m confused for a moment until I turn and look and see that this police car took a different approach. There was one car that didn’t stop and I see the police car had pulled a U-turn and has gone after the driver. I kind of feel badly, for being the cause of a potential ticket, especially since I’m not sure if I wouldn’t have done the same if I was driving. He would have slammed the brakes on. Anyways, sorry dude, if you got a ticket because of me.
Last night I was fighting the pattern I’ve had lately: on way home acquire headache, get home feed cats, and crash only to wake up hours later and drag myself into bed. I’ve been so tired recently. It’s really strange. Until I started talking to others. Looks like it probably has something to do with the sudden change in weather. Pressure drop? So last night, I put on an easy meal (cheese fondue – mmm) and pop in the latest Netflix flick.
Note here that I mainly use the streaming part of Netflix these days so my queue for movies to be mailed is from awhile ago. A long while ago. Sometimes movies arrive and I think, “huh” and that I need to get online and review my queue. But I never do. Last night I watch the previews and they’re alll about horror and thrillers. I get a little worried, as I do love myself a good horror film, but have learned to watch it during the day, not at night home alone. The movie is called, Wristcutters: A Love Story. It’s a sweet strange movie set in the afterlife suicide people live in. A little surreal especially when watching while very tired. But I made it to my regular bed time and enjoyed the movie. Still wondering what led me to stumble upon it in the first place.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Subway Siting – Good Deeds All Around!
Last night I got on a very crowded subway car. It was peak of rush hour and I was in a rush to get home to grab the car to head over to Watertown to pick up my latest craigslist find (forgot to take a picture and it’s no longer posted). It’s a great mid-century hassock that is the perfect size for my “new to me” arm chair (not really as I grew up with it and it’s been at my dad’s). And a steal at $25. It’s seen better days but an easy enough reupholstering job will fix that – good bones. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I get on the subway car and maneuver my way through the crowds to find the last remaining seat. It was next to a blind woman with her seeing eye dog. I sit down and soon after she asks me which door she should use if she wants to go to Lechmere. Now I use the metro daily but I have my route and am pretty bad about the details of the other parts. I carry on a conversation with her trying to figure it out and hoping someone else on the train will pipe in. We get to the next stop and I offer to hop out and read the signs to see if I can find the answer. No luck, so I offer to walk with her and help find it. She’s very appreciative and I know I’m getting more out of it than she is, after hearing about the recent study that shows good deeds make you healthier (here’s an article). I always put it down to adding to my good karma, but turns out there’s more to it!
Well, I’m just about to head off when this other young lady getting off after us says she’s heading to Lechmere and can take the blind woman. The young lady is Hispanic and very quiet with a heavy accent. It was very sweet of her and much appreciated as it would have put me way behind schedule. So there’s the first good deed on the subway from a stranger. All this went down in a matter of a few minutes and I’m able to hop back onto the same subway. I assumed I had long lost my seat as the car had gotten even more crowded. But nope, the gentleman on my other side had put his Wall Street Journal down and save me my seat. So when I pop back on and look around, he sees me and picks up his paper. How sweet was that? And little did he know how much a die-hard sitter I am! So warm fuzzies all around.
On a somewhat different note, I’m still amazed how many blind people I see on my commutes. I think I’ve seen more blind people in a month here than I have in the rest of my life combined. I just googled to see if I could find a reason but not for my town. The Boston area has been a center due to the creation of the celebrated Perkins School for the Blind a few centuries back. I did however accidentally find this local restaurant review, on which note I close this post:
"And that was my first bite at XXX. After reading all the positive reviews on Yelp, we decided to hike it out to XXX to try a new restaurant. This was of course a mistake in itself because (my town) is like the Jan Brady of Boston -- insecure (I saw 4 cop cars in two blocks!) and about as fun as a blind man trying to watch a porno."
I get on the subway car and maneuver my way through the crowds to find the last remaining seat. It was next to a blind woman with her seeing eye dog. I sit down and soon after she asks me which door she should use if she wants to go to Lechmere. Now I use the metro daily but I have my route and am pretty bad about the details of the other parts. I carry on a conversation with her trying to figure it out and hoping someone else on the train will pipe in. We get to the next stop and I offer to hop out and read the signs to see if I can find the answer. No luck, so I offer to walk with her and help find it. She’s very appreciative and I know I’m getting more out of it than she is, after hearing about the recent study that shows good deeds make you healthier (here’s an article). I always put it down to adding to my good karma, but turns out there’s more to it!
Well, I’m just about to head off when this other young lady getting off after us says she’s heading to Lechmere and can take the blind woman. The young lady is Hispanic and very quiet with a heavy accent. It was very sweet of her and much appreciated as it would have put me way behind schedule. So there’s the first good deed on the subway from a stranger. All this went down in a matter of a few minutes and I’m able to hop back onto the same subway. I assumed I had long lost my seat as the car had gotten even more crowded. But nope, the gentleman on my other side had put his Wall Street Journal down and save me my seat. So when I pop back on and look around, he sees me and picks up his paper. How sweet was that? And little did he know how much a die-hard sitter I am! So warm fuzzies all around.
On a somewhat different note, I’m still amazed how many blind people I see on my commutes. I think I’ve seen more blind people in a month here than I have in the rest of my life combined. I just googled to see if I could find a reason but not for my town. The Boston area has been a center due to the creation of the celebrated Perkins School for the Blind a few centuries back. I did however accidentally find this local restaurant review, on which note I close this post:
"And that was my first bite at XXX. After reading all the positive reviews on Yelp, we decided to hike it out to XXX to try a new restaurant. This was of course a mistake in itself because (my town) is like the Jan Brady of Boston -- insecure (I saw 4 cop cars in two blocks!) and about as fun as a blind man trying to watch a porno."
Thursday, September 09, 2010
August Update
I realize my last posting had “crap” in the title so figured I should update with a new post. I had a nice visit down in Richmond to see my little nephew who is about 8 months old. Of course I left right when the weather was breaking and would be gorgeous and in the 70s/80s and I was flying to a place that was hot and humid. I had been down in March and it’s amazing how fast the little guy has grown. Tons of personality and he’s a zoomer. He can only sit still for so long and then he’s biting at the bit to get down and go off exploring. He’s on a mission while crawling – checking every room and nook and cranny out. Surprisingly, I did rotation with my dad and Barbro and took turns between the air mattress and the guest bed. I’ve come to the conclusion that air mattresses are not my friends. They weren’t ever, but I was younger and the body would forgive more.
The weekend before last I had all to myself. I did end up visiting Cece and the family on Saturday. We had fun at the beach at a local pond and I got a bit of sun. But tons of smile time with Cam and Mags. Cam is starting to talk tons. Not all the words are English, but I can relate to that. Super cute as always. I was going to visit this weekend but forgot they were out of town. So am gearing up to block the lace shawl all on my own. As cece says, just take a deep breath. I’m almost done. Just one more round and then casting off. I’m really worried it’s going to be much smaller than it should. Based on the yardage needed, I should be using three balls of yarn plus a bit more. Instead, I’m using two balls of yarn plus a bit more. That doesn’t sound promising. I’ve been reading up today on how to properly pin it out and one site said alpaca is more delicate so don’t pull too hard. I think the yarn I’m using is alpaca. So stretching the thing into submission may not be the way to go.
Let’s see, what else. I feel like tons have been going on that I mean to blog about. I got two batches of jam from the peaches I bought. Burnt the first batch, but don’t think you can tell too much. Second batch was perfect. How bad is it if I only give away jars from the first batch?
This coming weekend I have a friend’s birthday soiree and a friend’s all day bachelorette party. I did find a dress for the wedding the following weekend (where the shawl will be on display). I’m starting to second guess it as it was a cute little strapless number. Seemed perfect when I was buying it on a hot and humid day, but now, even with a sweater, may be a little cold.
And on that note, so this isn’t yet another photoless post, I provide you with pics from my trip in July. I was bustling along early Saturday morning to check in at the Glasgow airport on my way to Paris for vacation. In the persistent drizzle that defines Glasgow weather, I happen to look up and see this advertisement. Just your normal approach to travel advertisement. Only the start and end points spectacularly match up with my itinerary. That happens once in a million, at least for me. How cool, I thought, so got out of the flurry of travelers and tiptoed my way onto the wet grass and took these pics.
The weekend before last I had all to myself. I did end up visiting Cece and the family on Saturday. We had fun at the beach at a local pond and I got a bit of sun. But tons of smile time with Cam and Mags. Cam is starting to talk tons. Not all the words are English, but I can relate to that. Super cute as always. I was going to visit this weekend but forgot they were out of town. So am gearing up to block the lace shawl all on my own. As cece says, just take a deep breath. I’m almost done. Just one more round and then casting off. I’m really worried it’s going to be much smaller than it should. Based on the yardage needed, I should be using three balls of yarn plus a bit more. Instead, I’m using two balls of yarn plus a bit more. That doesn’t sound promising. I’ve been reading up today on how to properly pin it out and one site said alpaca is more delicate so don’t pull too hard. I think the yarn I’m using is alpaca. So stretching the thing into submission may not be the way to go.
Let’s see, what else. I feel like tons have been going on that I mean to blog about. I got two batches of jam from the peaches I bought. Burnt the first batch, but don’t think you can tell too much. Second batch was perfect. How bad is it if I only give away jars from the first batch?
This coming weekend I have a friend’s birthday soiree and a friend’s all day bachelorette party. I did find a dress for the wedding the following weekend (where the shawl will be on display). I’m starting to second guess it as it was a cute little strapless number. Seemed perfect when I was buying it on a hot and humid day, but now, even with a sweater, may be a little cold.
And on that note, so this isn’t yet another photoless post, I provide you with pics from my trip in July. I was bustling along early Saturday morning to check in at the Glasgow airport on my way to Paris for vacation. In the persistent drizzle that defines Glasgow weather, I happen to look up and see this advertisement. Just your normal approach to travel advertisement. Only the start and end points spectacularly match up with my itinerary. That happens once in a million, at least for me. How cool, I thought, so got out of the flurry of travelers and tiptoed my way onto the wet grass and took these pics.
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