Hurry up and Wait

This morning at work I had a couple people visit me and stay a while to talk. Before I knew it, it was lunch time and no work had been done. That's ok I figured. I would get down to business after lunch.

When I got back from lunch, my computer had been taken over by a job to upgrade the Windows version installed on it. I thought this automatic upgrade was not going to happen until next month. The screen said to leave the computer alone, and that it might take up to 2 hours to complete.

After a few hours, the thing was still in the middle of an upgrade. I could not take it any more. So I rebooted the thing and hurried up and did some work. Then I rushed off because I am meeting a friend for dinner. I did get some work done calling customers when the computer was upgrading. However it was not a productive day at all.

Hot Weather

This weekend I went outside to cut the grass. Bad move. It was so very hot even in the shade. With the sun beating down on me, I could not work for long. I would cut the grass for about 5 minutes. Then I would need a 5 minute break.

Cool drinks helped a little bit. But it was difficult to cool down. I ended up cutting the front yard. Did some tree trimming in the back yard. That was about it. Took me over three hours to get done. Actual work was probably a little over an hour. Ouch that was hot weather.

Afterwards Momoko talked me into driving her to the Outback Steak House. Food was awesome as usual. However bad weather crept up on us. Felt like a hurricane passed over the restaurant. Some woman screamed that she thought we were in the middle of a tornado after the lights went out.

Momoko wanted to wait out the storm in the restaurant. I voted to get home quickly. When we got home we found the back rain gutter was overflowing onto the side of the house. I tried to climb up and find what was wrong. But I was so tired I could not get high enough to see what was happening. I reached up to the second story gutters and pulled out some crud. But I think the gutters are still blocked.

Today we are getting the professionals to come clean out all the rain gutters. No need putting myself in harm's way climbing two and a half stories on a rickety ladder. I will let you know how the professionals do.

Sunday Storm

On Sunday, Black and I decided to get a bite to eat at Outback. It was a nice dinner but as we were finishing the lights went out.

Apparently, a storm had rolled in and was reeking havoc. The lights quickly came back on and Black immediately asked for the check. He was ready to go home.

I wanted to stay a little bit until the storm passed but he was driving and I didn't want to get left behind. The lights flickered a few more times before we were able to get the billed paid. They were having problems because the computers went down. After the bill was paid, we high tailed it out of there.

Black picked me up at the front so I wouldn't be a drown cat. There were lots of branches down but the rain was slowing as we got home. A lot of people in our area lost power due to the downed trees, we were very lucky to get home safe and still have power!

Heart News

Yesterday a heart match was found for little Ally. She had an artificial heart because most of her original heart had died. She had only had the artificial one for a little over a week and last night they took out that one and replaced it with a new healthy heart. She did well through the surgery last night and is doing well today. It is so nice to have a happy ending to this story. Now I only hope for her speedy recovery so that she can make it home and back to her life. I am sad that someone had to loose a loved one in order for her to have a chance at life but I am thankful for the gift they gave to a very sick little girl.

Fish Feeding

With young cats gone for the summer, Momoko is in charge of feeding the fish. She does it once a day. The fish are in our living room. So at least she sees them on a daily basis. But the weekends are a different story.

Normally we get up late on Saturdays. Momoko and I go out to eat lunch usually. When we get back, Momoko takes her afternoon nap. That nap can sometimes last a few hours. I have company over every Saturday to watch movies. I know we are in trouble when our Dojo is jumping around the fish tank trying to get our attention. He needs food.

I usually try to convince Momoko to feed the fish before her nap. But she likes to keep to schedule. Sometimes I am able to wake her up and remind her that the fish are getting rowdy. At other times I need to step in and feed the fish myself. These kids need some kids to come back and keep them well fed.

Home Improvement

Last week our neighbors started digging up the area next to their house. Then we saw that they poured some concrete there. What was this? Perhaps it was a driveway extension. Nope.

Then we saw the lumber go up. These neighbors already had a garage. I guess they needed an extension for the garage. This will be a separate 1 car garage, next to their existing one.

They framed the roof. Some shingles went on top that matched their roof. Momoko said the brickwork on the front has started. I would like one of these garages. Right now we are still saving for a shed.

A Day of Surprises!

Today I had a few sweet surprises at school. We have been working on a group project and the team member that was a slacker last week actually stepped up to the plate and practically completed the project. I do not have to spend hours doing stuff for homework and we got out of class early today.

I also asked my teacher about getting materials for my classroom. She said she would try to work on getting everyone some models of atoms but in the meantime, she gave me a set of for my classroom. I was the only one that receive this special gift.

Tree Stump

We have a lot of trees in the back yard. Some time ago, I hired a company to cut some of them down. They ground the stumps of most trees they cut. However they could not fit the stump grinder on one side of the yard. So we were left with this tree stump there.

The stump was solid. It was going to be a chore to get rid of the stump myself. Normally I dig out the stump. But this tree was pretty big. So the dig would take a lot of manual labor. I found this product that was supposed to dissolve the stump. I drilled some holes in the stump. Then I put this formula into the tree. After a few weeks, the stump was as strong as ever. I figured the product did not work.

This weekend when I was cutting the grass around the stump. I found that the stump was falling apart. I got a spade and shoveled out most of the stump. I used a hatchet to chop the roots out from underground. They were easy to remove. Now I wish I had saved some of that stump removal powder. Maybe I can go back and figure out where I bought it.

Evil Monday

Mondays are so evil. First, they come way too early and then you realize you are only at the beginning of the week.

I was having a hard staying awake in class today. I didn't roll into bed until after 2am and I had to get up at 6:30am.

I have homework that is due by the end of the week but I think I will take a break from homework today. I am hoping other people in my group will take more of the lead this week.

I miss the kittens and I can't wait until they get home. I miss the conversations and the hugs and snuggles. Watching chick flicks alone is never fun.

Rocking New Penny!

I was jolted out of bed early this morning (sometime around 5 am). I just thought I had a nightmare or something but it was actually a 3.7 earthquake.

At school we did a lot of experiments, we put a peep in a vacuum (less pressure) and the thing got huge. We poured out a gas (CO2). My favorite experiment was using a dropper.

First we had to fill a test tube to the tippy top and then add drops of water. How many drops do you think we were able to get on the top? Next we took an old and new penny (tail side) and added drops until they spilled over. How many drops do you think we added?

Answers will be posted after in comments.

Another Day at Home

Our contractor returned today. He patched up the kids bathroom wall. Now he was not able to match the pink tiles in the shower. He also put the finishing touches on mine and Momoko's shower. This little drippy shower has been transformed into a power massage shower.

For lunch I went to my favorite restaurant, Pizzaria Uno's. I got a waitress who seemed to know me. Too bad I did not know her. Got two bowls of the all you can eat Broccoli and Cheese soup. Also had a Caesar salad which initially came out with no salad dressing.

I went out to cut the grass today. The temperature was very hot. And the sun really put a beating down on me. Wouldn't you know it? I ran out of iced tea during the ordeal. I put our weed wacker to good use in the back yard. The weeds were absolutely out of control back there.

Tomorrow I plan to sleep in. Then I am going to write a couple new programs to learn the stuff. Momoko and I plan to eat a simple dinner - Jerry's subs and pizzas.

Shower Repair

Tomorrow we have a contractor coming to fix the shower in Momoko and my shower. The thing just does not have hot water pressure. The plan is to come in from the next room and replace the shower hardware. I am hoping for a high pressure shower for the first time in our house.

Since I am staying home from work to learn some new programming, I go out to lunch by myself each today. Today I returned to Jerry's for a steak and cheese sub. I like how you can put the fixings on yourself. You know I load up on the pickles.

Momoko goes to her chemistry class during the day. After work she is tired so we go out to eat for dinner. We hit our favorite Mexican restaurant today. I was concerned because it was dark in there. We were one of only 2 other customers. Not sure what was going on. I ordered what Kit Kat usually gets, the Chimichanga Sonora.

School Supplies

Last night I started studying my programming. Then I got stuck on my Gun Sword anime. I went back to writing programs for practice. Turns out I stayed up the whole night. Momoko was surprised when she woke up in the morning and I still had not come to bed.

That's ok. This week is my stay at home learning week from work. It is cool. Momoko made me promise not to eat at Chipoltle for lunch. I brought a coupon to Jerry's Subs and Pizza instead. After work Momoko and I headed over to Chipoltle.

The Chipoltle shopping center has a Staples office supply store. This week they had some great deals on school supplies. Momoko confirmed at customer service that she can buy more than the usual customer limit on some supplies because she is a teacher. I loaded up the cart with 1 cent pencil packs (we cleaned them out). From past experience, I knew to ask the store clerks where the deals were. This led us to some 1 inch binders for $1.5o each,. That's a steal I tell you. We tested out a bunch of backpacks for Kit Kat. I kept stuffing them with binders to see what they could hold. We chose the sturdiest one that held the most binders (and did not cost massive $$$).

Gun Swordsman

Momoko and I finished watching our Angelic Layer anime series on Netflix. There were a whopping 26 episodes to see. I think this represents a whole year or season of the show.

I proposed that we watch a new anime series. Momoko though we needed a break. So I started watching a new series by myself. It is about a gun swordsman. Actually I don't understand it all just yet. The guy looks like a cowboy, but he can summon an "armor".

Today was a good eating day. For lunch we went out, and I had a steak. Then after a movie, we went out again for some appetizers. Had some stuffed mushrooms, as well as some mini burgers. We even ate some doughnuts and chocolate for dessert.

This week I stay home and lean some programming on my own. I love this idea.

Silver Alert

Black and I were able to get a lot of rest and relaxation during the weekend. We were able to eat out a few times so I did not have to cook much. We watched a lot of movies and even made it to see Despicable Me today. I was really funny.

On our way home, we noticed the traffic alert signs were flashing. There was a silver alert. Neither Black nor I had ever heard of a silver alert. Information followed about a car to look for but we kinda thought silver sounded like something good, like a treasure so we were baffled. When we got home I Googled it, apparently it is an alert for a missing or misplaced senior citizen. I am thinking they should just say, "ALERT (List make and model of car )and CALL 911" and do not worry about the code.

Wii Streaming to the Rescue

We have a cable company that provides on demand video. The problem is that the service is flaky. It seems to not work more often than it works. Momoko and I need movies to watch. But Netflix only sends us a few disc a month.

Don't count Netflix out yet though. They have provided us with a Wii Disc. This Disc allows the Wii to connect to the wireless network. And you can stream movies down to your TV.

This is not awesome. Not all movies available on DVD from Netflix can be streamed over the network. But there are a bunch of anime series on there. Right now we are caught up watching Angelic Layer. People uses their "angels" to battle.

Times of Drought

Late last week, a sensor detected that a big water pipe in the area was faulty. They dug it up and found the pipe was failing. It is one of the main lines that feeds the water to our water company. So they declared it a time to conserve water.

Nobody is allowed to water their lawns, or fill pools, or do other things to waste water. This restriction was to last 4 days. But they were unable to fix the pipe quickly. So the restriction got extended.

The police are enforcing the water restriction. You can get a warning or a $500 fine. So I am sure not watering the lawn. A lot of people are upset as they have planted new things that need water or will die. I know some people are sneaking out, doing the watering in the middle of the night.

Our grass is getting brown again and might not live. Kit Kat's roses are not looking well.

Brace for Fun

Today I made the final payment on Kit Kat's braces. I guess they are truly hers now. She still has awhile before they come off but I know she is excited to have them. She is probably the only kitten that I know that would beg to have something so crazy. She even offer to go without presents and allowance just so that she could have these braces. I hope she get her desired affect in return!

Contractor Visit

I got a call the other night from my contractor. He said he could come by this morning and wrap up some work we were waiting for. I drove to work and picked up my laptop to work from home.

Momoko and I were watching a new anime we found called Angelic Layer. Then the contractor drove up and was ringing the doorbell. I let him in and went back to watching the anime. He interrupted me with some bad news. The faucet I bought did not fit the vanity. A quick run to Lowes fixed that problem.

The contractor and his partner installed our beautiful vanity in the kids bathroom. Then they went and secured out gate that leads to the back patio. That gate has been out of commission for a while. Finally the contractor put some anchors and hooks in our pantry to hang the pans.

I am excited because the contractor gave me an estimate to fix our master bathroom shower. The thing will not spray any hot water pressure in the shower. The result is a cold shower, or one where the water trickles out. I am hoping we can get the contractor back to do that work. Momoko and I have lived for over 6 years with this shower problem. Things are looking up.

Tears for Ally

What would you do if your child told you that her stomach hurt? She cried so bad that you got concerned and finally checked the place that she said hurt. What if you could feel she had a hard mass? You would take her to the doctor right away.

This is how a colleague of mine spent his first day of summer break. He and his wife took their seven year old daughter to the emergency room. They sent them home with a recommendation that they go to a bigger hospital. There was no since of urgency. They went to the hospital the next day because it was already really late and the trip would take hours.

When they arrived at the bigger hospital, the little girl was taken to ICU immediately and she has been there ever since. She had an enlarged heart which caused her liver to swell because it wasn't getting enough blood. She has been poked and prodded and they do not know if the swelling of her heart was caused by a virus or heredity. She has been on a cornucopia of medicines and now they are saying she will need a heart transplant.

I look back and see how blindsided they were. The first hospital did not give them the information that they needed in order to get her to the bigger hospital sooner. This may have saved her from having as much heart damage as she has. I know they feel like they did something wrong.

I know their lives are changed forever and all I can do is be there if they need anything. They send daily updates about Ally. I read everyone through tearful eyes. It is so sad to see your child going through something like this and I could not image having the strength to watch one of my kittens in such a situation.

Be safe this holiday and give an extra hug to those you love and send an extra prayer for Ally. I hope she gets the heart she needs so desperately. Right now, she just wants to go home.

Almost Gambling

Last night I asked Momoko to see if there were any hotel rooms available near our favorite casino. She said she found rooms available directly in the casino. This sounded exciting because it is easy to go down the elevator right into the casino.

This morning I woke up early. I went to the casino web site to try and make some reservations. I got an error during the reservation process. What? So I tried again and got an error again. Now I am not one to give up too easily. I called the hotel reservation line up. Got a recording that they were closed. What???

I always tell Momoko that I look for signs here and there. This sounds like a sign that we were not destined to be gambling this weekend. Now I may try calling the hotel back later when they wake up. Don't want to let a little thing like a broke down web site getting in the way of us having fun. If that does not work, we might just have to live it up at home this holiday weekend. That means going out to eat and seeing a movie or two. Anybody out there seen Eclipse or Despicable Me yet?

Texting

Last night I decided to text the kittens to let them know I was thinking about them. They have been staying up really late and sleeping in and I didn't really think about the time. (It was around 11:30 PM) I got a text back from Little telling me he was in bed but could not sleep. I told him to close his eyes and think about something calming like the beach. He wrote back and said he likes when I text him. I know it was just a ploy for him to stay up late but it was very sweet. Gotta love him! As much as I wanted to text him all night, I knew he needed to get to sleep. I did get to text Kit as well but Kit had to go to bed early because she was going garage sale shopping in the morning so we didn't get to talk much. I hope they both finally get some sleep. Sweet dreams kittens!

Da Reuben

I have been watching a lot of cooking shows this summer. I wanted to try some new recipes but I do not want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I decided I wanted to make a sandwich. Earlier this year I tried a new sandwich at lunch called a reuben and when I told Black about it he said it was one that he liked. I thought this would be a good sandwich to make. I researched the recipe and it seemed easy enough. I bought the ingredient. You take rye bread add Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing (add horseradish for a kick), sauerkraut, and thinly sliced corned beef. I thought it was very tasty and I will definitely make it again.