An All Nighter

Yesterday I worked hard on my last project for the college class I am taking. Luckily it is not due for another week and a half. Momoko was not so lucky. She needed to turn in a paper for her class today. And let me tell you. She was behind schedule. So she bit the bullet and stayed up all night. She got done around 6:00am.

Momoko plans to sleep during the day. She still needs to go to her college class this afternoon and turn in her paper. That means I have to drive Little Cat to school today. We are on schedule for that. And when I get up this early, I normally grab some breakfast on the way to work. I see Burger King in my immediate future.

Our new Brother last printer is pretty good. The jobs pretty out very fast. The ink is dark because the toner cartridge is new. There are only two problems. When somebody prints, my computer sometimes shuts off because the printer draws so much electricity all at once. And our initial toner cartridge is already getting low. Never fear. I already placed an order for a replacement cartridge.

Thanksgiving Plans

We had plans to visit my mom for Thanksgiving. She asked that we only bring some devilled eggs. Kit Kat whipped up a bunch of them using the secret family recipe. When we got to my mom's for dinner, she set out all the food. But when we passed out the devilled eggs, there were only a few on the plate. My mom confessed that she stashed the rest for herself. Doh.

Next we decided to go out to see a show. Momoko said it was a holiday tradition. The theater was not crowded. We saw the Fantastic Mister Fox. It was some type of claymation. I liked it a lot. It was a full story.

Tomorrow is Black Friday. I plan to sleep in. The rest of the family is getting up early to shop until they drop. Little Kat worked around the house all day to earn money for a portable DVD player. I hope he has enough $$$. Momoko and Kit Kat got me to watch their "Bride and Prejudice" DVD. No. Its not Pride and Prejudice. It is a remake of the movie from Bollywood. The thing was actually not too shabby.

Early Alarm

Yesterday I did a lot of laundry. It seemed easy to be distracted during the day with TV and such. I only spent about an hour working in the yard.

So when everybody went to bed, I went to work. I paid the bills. Then I started studying for my class. We are wrapping up the semester soon.

This morning I had to get up early. Momoko went to the doctor's. So I needed to drive Little Kat to school. I mentioned Grannie Kat's new HHR vehicle to him. He said he did not know about this recent car purchase. Oh man, we need to get out to visit Grannie Kat. Let's start the countdown.

New Moon Weekend

Today is the premiere of the movie New Moon. It is the sequel to Twilight. Kit Kat and her friends just went out to see the movie. Momoko bought them tickets online last night.

Little Kat had long ago planned to see the movie with his friend from school. They are scheduled to see it in the theater tomorrow. Let's hope Kit Kat does not give away any spoilers.

I myself don't have any current plans to see New Moon, except maybe on DVD.

Toto "Africa"

Late one work night, Momoko and I started watching music videos on cable. Well Momoko eventually headed to bed. Then I discovered a live concert video from Toto. The best part was when they played Africa. I recall this song from my youth.

This version of the video had some interesting parts. The lead singer on the keyboards is not the original band member. He is better than the original guy. I love how he looks when he has his keyboard solo in the middle of the song.

Another thing I noticed was that gramps on the bass (with the long white beard) does not seem to be the original bass player either. I love how this "new" guy bobs his head up and down with the beat.

There is so much to love about this video. It is clear that these guys are really playing at their concert. However the sound is so good. Normally bands just don't sound as good as their radio/CD edits. But these guys are masters. I also like when they pan out to the dude in the crowd standing on somebody's shoulders.

I am listening to the song as I write this blog post. Only thing left to say is, "I blessed the rains ... down in Africa."

A Busy Day

I had a bunch of meeting this afternoon at work. When they were done, I bolted out of there. Got home in time for a little daylight. So I decided to rake some of the leaves.

When I came in, the family was discussing the plans to watch the movie New Moon. Momoko and I watched some anime during dinner. However Momoko fell asleep.

That was no good because Momoko was supposed to go grocery shopping tonight (for Enchilada soup ingredients). Kit Kat and I ended up going instead. After shopping we hit the library. But none of the books we wanted were in.

Momoko woke up and tried to print some color copies on her printer. No dice. The cyan color ran out. That meant Momoko and I made a late night run to Target. They did not have the color cartridges. Walmart was across the street, and had all we need. Now it is time to study for my college class. Ta ta.

Working Day

Veteran's Day was a work day for both Momoko and myself. Kit Kat and Little Kat stayed home because there was no school. The night before I worked until 11:00PM. So I figured I could leave work early around 3:30 then next day.

I got home and thought about raking leaves. But it was raining and I was tired. Kit Kat got a call from Momoko. She had meetings all day and still had a lot of work to do. Kit Kat, Little Kat, and I got in the car and drove to school. We helped Momoko put her classroom in order. There was a lot of furniture to move around. Some gerbils caused something of a distraction to the kids.

We finally got out of there. Momoko and I decided we should eat out since it was already late. So we headed to the local Mexican restaurant. As usual, we got some cheese sauce for our chips. But the dip was hot with a lot of jalapenos. Our plan was to get home and watch Transformers 2. However it was too late. All in all a busy Veteran's Day.

Tough Weekend

This was a tough weekend. I had to work on Saturday and Sunday. Whew. The good news is after work on Saturday, I went out and picked up a new printer for the family.

The printer is a bit odd. It consumes a lot of electricity. The lights dim when it is printing. Once when I printed 4 pages in a row, it caused the power to my computer to be shut off. But hey. It has toner and it prints fast.

Kit Kat had a tough weekend as well. She started a Windows security update. Then she went to cook us dinner. When she got back, her computer was toast. The thing won't boot, even when she chooses Safe Mode or Last Known Good Configuration. Help.

Locked Out

Yesterday I had to report to my company headquarters for an in person meeting. The main office is far away. And the traffic to get there is murder. So I got up in the early AM hours, and drove there early.

The day went well. Since I got there so early to beat traffic, I left early to miss the traffic going home. When I got home all the lights were on in the house. So I turned them off, locked up the doors, and headed outside for some yard work.

After a few hours I came in, took a shower, and hit the sack. Later I found out that I had locked Little Kat in the basement. He stayed home sick from school and was in the guest bedroom. How was I to know this? Luckily Kit Kat came home from school and detected something was wrong with the downstairs door being locked. No harm. Little Kat was sleeping the whole day.

Getting Scrappy

Both Momoko and Little Kat told me the last printer was not printing dark. I had a spare toner cartridge. It was an old cartridge that had the toner put back in. So I loaded into the printer. Two weeks later, the prints were coming out lacking again.

What were we to do? I could buy a new toner cartridge. But the darn thing costs $100. Little Kat was also complaining that the printer was squeaking. The thing is a work horse. However it is as old as Kit Kat.

I guess it is time to buy a new printer. Momoko has to print a lot of paper out for her class. And Kit Kat plus Little Kat do a little printing for school as well. I decided to try one more time to be scrappy. I put on some latex gloves, and shook that toner cartridge vigorously. Now it is printing fine. But its days are numbered.

Office Depot has a Brother laser printer on sale for $99. That costs less than the toner for our current printer. It is worth a try.