If I get paid for some recent work, I think I’ll have enough dough for a new computer. This is good because while I have a fleet of computers, they’re all old and getting older. My newest one is about 3 years old — about the usable lifespan of a computer. I’m trying to decide what computer to get next and am soliciting your input.
So far in my life, I’ve never purchased a laptop for myself. The two that I have came from 1) an old job and 2) my mom who pretty much just stopped using the one she bought for herself a couple of years ago. In buying hardware for myself, I always wanted the greater computing power for the buck that a desktop provides. Currently, thanks to my wireless setup and a general need to be where the action is in the house, I’ve found myself using my laptop(s) much more, whether computing on the back porch or in my new make-shift office (AKA table) in the living room. That said, once set up in one of those locations, I don’t tend to move it around much, so I’m still not sure how essential laptopage is. So, that’s the first decision that needs to be made: Laptop vs. Desktop.
Up here in central PA, I get my natural gas supply from Dominion. This confuses me just a little bit, because back in Charlottesville, I got my electricity supply from Dominion (gas came from the City of Charlottesville).
They recently sent me their furnace repair plan promotional material. Basically, they offer furnace insurance. Pay a little bit every month, then if your furnace fails, they fix it and you aren’t stuck with a huge repair bill. Like any insurance, if you can afford it, you’re statistically better off self-insured. Otherwise, insurers couldn’t make money.
Update: Fixed day of week. (thanks bk) Apparently sleep deprivation also means inability to actually read a calendar. Pretty funny when you consider the nature of this post.
Being that we now live in a proper neighborhood, complete with neighbors, and now that we have a kid, it seems like it is time to start participating in the whole Halloween thing again. We bought a great deal of candy. We turned on our front porch (and lamp post) lights. We carved a pumpkin and lit the jack-o-lantern with a candle. 3 kids came. Count them, 3.
I’ve had some pretty good birthdays. Even this year, I had one that I really enjoyed. But, already, Sam has topped me. Just yesterday, 3 more packages came for Sam from such unlikely sources as the parents of my best friend from mid-late youth, and an administrative assistant that we rarely deal with any more from the campus. The outpouring has been amazing. Thank you. If you’re still thinking to join in on the give Sam stuff parade, I have just one request — no more “Goodnight Moon.” I think that the 3 copies that she has will suffice! Not that it’s an amazing feat, but at just three weeks old, Sam has a better wardrobe than I do.
Well, Grand-mère left early afternoon today, right after breakfast. Yeah, you read that right. What of it? Now we’re out of biological grandmothers. OK, Sam has one more grandmother (my dad’s “new” wife). She’s been part of my dad’s life for years and years, but she still doesn’t really feel like family the same way to me. No offense meant, just that Carolyn and I each had mothers during our childhoods, neither of which she was. Besides, she lives in NC — a breezy jaunt of just 8 hours or so. This is the long way of saying we’re all out of grandmothers.
I’ve heard from a couple of people now that they’ve had trouble accessing Samantha’s website, or SamTrak from her site. I suspect DNS trouble. I set these sorts of things up with some regularity, so I should have a pretty good idea of what to do. Alas, I usually do it on more sleep than I had recently, so I could have screwed something up. It all works for me, but I use my own DNS servers.
You might think that since Grand-mère is a formal French title, that it might have something to do with Mom’s side of the family. After all, Mom studies all sorts of things French. And while neither side of the family stands greatly on formality, you’ll find fewer fart jokes told around the dinner table with Mom’s side of the family. But no, you’d be mistaken. OK, it’s not much of a fairy tale, but here’s the story of how Grand-mère got her name. You see, Grand-mère was not the first Grand-mère ever. Though when Grand-mère’s mother first had the opportunity to take the name, she shunned it. After all, Grand-mères are old. And she didn’t want any reminders that age was sneaking up on her, and that the cycle of life continued regardless of her acceptance. So we just called her “Ruth.” That mostly made sense; It was, after all, her name.
We met with a different pediatrician today (same office). I was worried about Sam’s wheezing — especially as I was just getting over a cold myself. It turned out to be nothing but regular snot, but I’m so glad we went. We had a much easier time communicating with this pediatrician than we did for Sam’s “regular” doctor. While her regular doctor has a fine command of English (though it’s not her native tongue), we don’t feel like she listens to us and our questions particularly well. We felt like this new doc listened better answered and anticipated our questions better and was just generally more communicative with us. The trip is still a pain, and the visit felt like a whirlwind, but we left more comforted than we arrived, but also a little more freaked out.
We made it from one grandmother to the next. Phew. Already Grand-mère’s been a big help. She’s returned a book to the library that would have been late tomorrow, she’s gone to the grocery store and she’s helping get the nursery prepped for the Trading Spaces style event down the road. This was a good thing because I hadn’t even been in that room for most of a month. The windows were open because, it had been summer not that long ago. And then there’s the hole in the wall from when the electrician was here. I’ve been meaning to fix that. She was also an inspiration to take the air conditioner out of the window in the guest room.
I’ve added more pictures to Sam’s album: “http://gallery2.accapehart.com/v/People/babycapehart/”:http://gallery2.accapehart.com/v/People/babycapehart/
The new stuff begins on “page 4”:http://gallery2.accapehart.com/v/People/babycapehart/?g2_page=4 .
Also, a friend of mine who’s also a Live Journal user has set up a LJ version of my blog feed. That way, LJ users can read it from within LJ, and even “friend” it for easier access. The Live Journal URL for this blog is:
“http://www.livejournal.com/users/choicywhiteboy/”:http://www.livejournal.com/users/choicywhiteboy/
