Carol's random babble

I think I got at angry at work as I have ever been. Not only did I have to stay late, but when I wanted to leave, I was told that I had to update the Web site before I could leave. Now, I know I have to update the Web site. I offered to do it in the morning on my way to church. No, that wasn't good enough. We were almost done with the paper, when I heard a call go over the scanner about a fire in Lehigh. I told the person on desk, who shall remain nameless. She sent the reporter on duty and the main photographer to Lehigh to get information and photos. Neither of them knew exactly where they were going, and took a long time to find exactly where the fire was. The front page was held back until after 11 p.m. when the deadline is 10:30 p.m. The reporter called back and gave a bit more information, while driving back to Fort Dodge. The person on desk (who was on the phone with the person who will be on desk on Sunday night) said that the reporter should go back and get as much info...

Okay, all join in ... The Llama Song here's a llama there's a llama and another little llama fuzzy llama funny llama llama llama duck! llama llama cheesecake llama tablet brick potato llama llama llama mushroom llama llama llama duck! i was once a treehouse i lived in a cake but i never saw the way the orange slayed the rake i was only three years dead but it told a tale and now listen, little child to the safety rail did you ever see a llama? kiss a llama on the llama llama's llama tastes a llama llama llama duck! half a llama twice the llama not a llama farmer llama llama in a car alarm a llama llama duck! is it how it's told now? is it all so old? is it made of lemon juice? doorknob ankle cold now my song is getting thin i've run out of luck time for me to retire now and become a duck. Happy Thanksgiving!

and so, apparently, is Yasser Arafat. Speaking selfishly, from the standpoint of someone who works at a newspaper, the whole "he's dead," "he's not dead," "he's in a coma," "he's not in a coma," "okay he's really dead now" thing has been wearing on the nerves. Every night we were checking on updates to make sure that if he really died, we could get it in the newspaper. The Associated Press had stories saying he was dead last week. I remembered back to the early days of SNL, when they did the news and would say, "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead." Apparently I'm not the only one to think of this.

So, the HP has been running a little noisy lately - just enough to notice. Saturday, Kent was on and the computer had an illegal operation. When he restarted, it just went to the HP screen and wouldn't boot up. I was worried about personal information like genealogy, and photos that are on the hard drive and can't be replaced. So we went to Rent-A-Center and rented an IBM. It was previously rented. It had problems from the beginning - Norton Antivirus kept popping up and saying it was killing viruses. Well, how did all these viruses get on there when we just got the darn thing? Kent couldn't figure out how he could download and install programs - I figured out how to set him up as a computer administrator. It's our first experience with Windows XP. So, this morning, Kent woke me up during my nap to tell me he got out computer running. Lovely. I went back to bed. When I got up just before noon, he had taken the IBM back to Rent-A-Center and brought back a new-in-t...

I foolishly stayed up past midnight. I started my NaNoWriMo novel - got 204 words so far and decided to go to bed and work on an outline in the morning. Messed around, checked my gmail and found an email from Chris Baty that was sent to everyone who signed up for NaNoWriMo. The email suggested updating your profile, so I got started on that. I don't have a siggy line, so I started hunting for one. Started out at coolsig.com, then did a search on one of the quotes. Found a couple of sites with that quote and then found another that I'm using. Put that in my profile. Turned off the computer (which is starting to make funny noises that concern me). Went to the bathroom and suddenly remembered that Cayla wanted a particular outfit washed so she can wear it to school tomorrow. Duh. Started a load of laundry and turned the computer back on. The thing I want to do most right now is go to sleep, but no ... I have to babysit the laundry and make sure it gets in the dryer. Our washer isn...

It's 1:43 a.m. Saturday. The wind is picking up. There's a wind advisory until 4 p.m. Great. Hope I get to sleep when I finally go to bed. Kent has decided to go visit some friend of his in Canada. Some Internet friend. Allegedly a male. Whoop-ti-do. He's going to buy his bus ticket next week, then go the following week. Doesn't matter what goes on here - the fact that I work evenings and even if I can get Mom or my nieces to babysit, I would be bringing the girls home late and disrupt their sleeping habits doesn't matter. Just lovely. I haven't prepared my Sunday School lesson yet. I'll do that after I get up. I have to remember to go into work a bit earlier because I have to make sure a fax gets sent by 5 p.m. I was watching an episode of Farscape - Home on the Remains - the other night and a commercial for Claritin came on during the show. Wow - talk about synchronicity . There was a "Fall Festival" at church - Friday night, tonight...

I taught my second Sunday School lesson today. I've come to the realization that I may experience stage fright on a weekly basis as long as I'm teaching. Fun. I've signed up for NaNoWriMo . I have no idea what I'll write about, but I've started a blog about it. So, we'll see how that turns out. (Update: I've delected the blog because there wasn't that much to it and I didn't get very far on the novel. Oh, well, there's always next year.)

I was on the Nauvoo forum reading a thread about making do. People were discussing how to get by when income decreases due to job loss. Someone posted a link about working at home . I started reading when I came across a familiar name. One of the people mentioned in the article has been doing genealogy on some of the same names in Kent's family. I really need to write to her. That's the plus side. The down side is that I haven't finished preparing my lesson for tomorrow. I have to work today. So, I can either work on it now or after work. My hours are somewhat flexible so I can go in now or in a couple of hours. I probably won't get off work any earlier either way. Kent wants the computer right now. So I guess I'll go work on it in another room. ;)

Well, I got to church on time, and the girls and I sat in the second row from the front, right in the middle. Debbie Johns came over and asked me if I could teach a class next week. I told her to talk to me after sacrament meeting - that all would be revealed. I said I would be busy next week. (after the meeting, she said she understood) Ward business was the confirmation of a girl who had been baptized. There was some stake business, then the sacrament was passed. I was confused. Two weeks ago, Bishop Dick asked me to accept a calling. Because of General Conference last week, this was the first week I could be sustained. During the sacrament song, Brother Thomas came down off the stand and asked me if I had been sustained yet. I said, "no." He went back up and I knew that it would be taken care of after the sacrament was passed. I was right. Mary Dick gave the first sacrament talk - and talked about families - past, present and future. I think she figured she was ru...

since I blogged. The last time I attempted to blog, I couldn't even sign in. Then, I wanted to add in our trip to Nauvoo, but I won't do that today. Either I'll put it in Notepad and then add it, or I'll post it on my personal Web site. We've had a lot happen in the last 2 1/2 months. Cayla cut her finger badly on Aug. 7 and had to have stitches. We went to Nauvoo on a 2-day trip. That is not nearly enough time to see anything at all. Even Kent wants to go back, which is amazing. Especially since we spent time with Dad and Michele, probably Kent's two least favorite people in my family ... which is saying quite a lot. School started at the end of August. Cayla is in third grade and the TAG - Talented and Gifted - program at school. Amanda is in sixth grade. Kent still hasn't found a job, but we're trying to get an Internet business going. Interested in learning how to sell on eBay and make money ? We have two more Web sites that we are paying fo...

Yesterday, I took Cayla into town. I had to return a video (The Phantom Tollbooth - Cayla loved it, Amanda didn't watch the whole thing). We went to Taco Bell so she could try a taco. She wasn't happy. It costs 10 cents more than Taco Tico, they charge extra for tomato (which is cut into pieces instead of sliced), she didn't like the taste and she said her tummy hurt. After Taco Bell, we went to Walmart to get ingredients for spaghetti. As soon as we were done getting the stuff (at the self-serve checkout), Cayla got a nosebleed. She went to the bathroom, I stashed out stuff with the Service Desk and went to buy a box of kleenex for her. When I got to the bathroom, her nosebleed was over. Then she got the hiccups Cayla blames the nosebleed and hiccups on the Taco Bell taco. So, then we went to Taco Tico for a taco that she would like. She was mightily pleased. We dropped off the video and headed downtown to see what was going on with the RAGBRAI festivities. We p...

I watched this new show tonight - The Days. It's an interesting show - at least the pilot is. All about this family and the things that are happening to them. There's a line from the show where the father tells the mother, "I suddenly find myself unemployed." We're in a similar situation here. Kent got a call Thursday that basically told him that he doesn't have a job. Since I don't want to screw up his chances at unemployment, I won't name names, but I find it odd that about 3 weeks ago, a new person was hired, the previous site supervisor was let go and the new person was made supervisor. Just this last week, another new person was trained, and Kent is let go. The really coincidental thing is that the new site supervisor apparently knew this new person because they worked together at their previous place of employment. I wonder how many more friends the new supervisor has and will they also be applying to work there. The good news is, that...

My new time-waster is Kingdom of Loathing . I spend too much time on this game. It's funny and different - you will have to see for yourself. Amanda's birthday was yesterday. We went to the library for a magic show with Allen Roen . It was pretty cool. We went home for awhile, I took a nap, then we went to a nature program at Kennedy Park and to Pizza Hut for supper. (Kids eat free on Tuesday nights) Amanda's friend Tabitha gave her a couple of books about horses - instant hit. Cayla and I picked out a small Magnetix kit for Amanda. She loves it. I think I'll get her a bigger set tomorrow when I get paid. I just noticed that on the side of the box it tells you what color the pieces are - we got her yellow, but her favorite color is red. I want to get her a set that has more kinds of pieces.

Rock, Paper, Saddam is pretty funny. :) There is a bit of profanity. I ran over a skunk on the way home from work tonight. I don't think I hit it, just ran over it. However, I did scare the crap out of it, so to speak. I didn't smell anything until I got out of the car, then I smelled a faint skunk smell. It seems to be getting a little stronger. I've had Gmail for over a week and still no invitations to share.I promised to share my first invite on Hatrack and haven't been able to keep my promise. While at work tonight, I heard a call on the scanner about a 10-50 (accident) involving an ATV. The first call said it was at 400 Rake Street in Otho. Subsequent messages from the LEC dispatcher said it was on Highway Street next to the park. Highway Street is one block west of the park, which is bounded by Rake Street on the west. So, the first address was right. They got it right eventually. Sunday I was at work and asked Kent to tape "The Music Man" ...

The Otho fireworks were pretty awesome this year. I love having a digital camera to capture the moment. 

Otho fireworks 

I broke the driver's seat in my car Thursday night. It's broken inside, near the lever. So I am very careful about how I sit. I don't lean back too hard. Yesterday, on the way to work, my odometer rolled over to 278,000 miles. I don't lock my car any more (except last night) because when I do, the front passenger door tends to not unlock. This forces Mom to sit in the back seat when I drive her places, and she won't/can't use the seat belt in the back. Last night I left work and went to Hy-Vee. During my shopping trip, I realized how tired I was and called Kent to ask him to come into town and pick me up. He and the girls came to get me. I parked my car in the Big Lots parking lot away from the store, and locked it. We haven't gone back to get it yet. I had to go into town this morning by myself because I found out we were completely out of toilet paper. I thought we had some in the small bathroom, but found out I was wrong. I wanted to have Kent...

That's Cayla's sound of frustration. That's what I said when I found out my emails had been disabled by my esteemed ISP. Yesterday I called to cancel Frontier Choices since I'm not using the options. They offered to take $20 off my bill for six months if I would keep it for that time. I agreed. Several times during the conversation I repeated that I wanted to keep my DSL. Today I checked my email and found my accounts were disable. My web pages were gone. I called tech support. They said I asked to delete my account. NOT! GRRR. It's all back, I think. I have to go to work, so I can't follow through and check on everything. GRRR. Customer Service.

There used to be a tv commercial (and magazine ads) for some cigarette brand where you would see a person with a black eye declaiming "I'd rather fight than switch," showing their loyalty to that brand. Internet Explorer users might want to take that as a good example - if you consider how bad cigarettes are for your health. I am tired of popups and don't want spyware on my computer. I'm not important enought to warrant hacking, but the whole thing is just getting out of hand. I like surfing the Internet and popups are like hidden rocks in the water. Don't mind me - after all, this is my random babble .

I'm still (slightly) amused by these commercials. I haven't gotten tired of them ... yet. Maybe by tomorrow morning. The four of us went to supper at BK tonight. I discovered they are promoting The Simple Life 2 - Road Trip . I can't begin to express the level of thrill I am feeling. Remind me not to eat in the dining room at BK until this is over. Every time I hear Paris Hilton's name, I recall that her great-great-grandmother (Conrad Hilton's mother) was Mary Laufersweiler. As in Laufersweiler-Sievers Funeral Home in Fort Dodge, Iowa. And, I can't help but wonder why they don't have a season of The Simple Life in Fort Dodge. Paris could visit her Laufersweiler cousins and learn all about the funeral home business. I bet they would be thrilled.

I got my invitation to Gmail! Someone at Hatrack River invited me. So I changed my email in my profile and now I can't log back in. Well, she warned me ... in a way ... that's what happened to her. I should go to work - should have gone already. I have to work about 10 hours today and tomorrow - each day. Crap. I hate when I do this, yet I do it every week. Payday is tomorrow. That's good, because I am soooo broke. I'll be soooo broke again on Friday, but at least the rent will be paid. Oh, and got my hair cut yesterday. Kent did it with his hair clippers. He did a pretty good job, judging by the compliments I got at work, but he cut it about 3 inches shorter than I asked. I need to find a scissors to clip a section that didn't get cut to the same length as the rest.

I've been slightly more concerned than usual about the possibility of getting hacked. I don't have anything special going on - my browing habits shouldn't be of interest to anyone but me, but some friends have had some problems and it's in the news more and more. And, tonight on Hatrack River, some people said there was "a nasty and vulgar message that looked like the site had been hacked." Since IE is more vulnerable to hacking, I am trying Firefox . We'll see how it goes. I like that it imported my bookmarks, but I don't like that it rearranged them. I don't even know what the criteria was - they aren't in alphabetical or chronological order as far as I can tell. And ... earlier I took the girls into town. I needed to pick up one more item for my exchange gift (group of online friends/acquaintenances). We got that, went for ice cream and headed over to Oleson Park. That part was a surprise for the girls. We looked at the animals, walkin...

I'm up to Sept. 98 reading from the beginning. I need to go get ready for work now. Amanda stayed up all night playing Graal and is asleep, but that will change. (evil laugh)

Storm clouds seen west of Otho as I was on my way to work June 16, 2004. A few minutes after I got to work, the tornado sirens sounded, but no tornadoes touched down around Fort Dodge. 

The hot thing right now is Gmail - Google's email. It's not open to everybody - you have to be invited. There is even a swap site where people who have Gmail invites can swap them for things like homemade cookies, free ironing or a Duct-Tape wallet (all actual offers). I want Gmail. I can't think of any humorous or original things to offer. I'm tired. I signed up for GraalOnline this week and Amanda is spending even more time on it and is just as hard to pry off the computer. Her excuse used to be that she had to give her money to somebody, since when she would log off her game wasn't saved. Now she has some other excuse.

Yeah, I think this blog template is pretty cool. I like it.

Okay, when I tried to change my template and update my blog yesterday, I kept getting an error message. Today, it updated! So, I'll be using Blogger/Blogspot again. I'll figure a way to include my off-Blogger posts, but I don't have to worry about that today. Today I tried to start the Ultimate Weight Loss Solution plan. I had a scrambled egg with cheddar-jack (not low-fat, though) cheese on a flour tortilla. The tortilla isn't in the plan. I also had strawberries. For lunch, I had a chicken quesadilla - 2 slices of cheese, rotisserie chicken, 2 tortillas that are still not on the plan. I took a nap, did half of the walking video and got ready for work. So, now it's off to work. La di da ...

I've been back and forth on the whole blogging issue with mixed results. I like the ease of Blogger, but want more personalization. I can get all the personalization I could ever want by doing it in HTML, but it's already getting to be a hassle again, which is what lead me to Blogger in the first place. So, I'm trying Blogger again. We'll see what happens.

Saturday night on the way home from work, I nearly got hit by a deer. I was driving through Coalville, just starting down the hill to the Kalo bridge, and a deer came bounding up from the ditch on the right. I hit the brakes, but it turned and we were both okay. If it had hit me, it would have hit the passenger side, not the front. I think it was a doe, but it's hard to tell in the dark. It's kind of a blur now.

I could have sworn I blogged since Dec. 17 but I guess I'm wrong... Well, things are in a turmoil on a board I've been on since September. A group of people started a separate board and kept it secret. If they had said, we're starting a board, I think maybe it wouldn't have been so bad... but they invited only a few. The people on the original board deleted everyone who went to the secret board. Now there are messages on at least 4 boards: womansday.com (where the origanal group met), the first board, the secret board, an open board started by someone from the original board... and the fun never ends. There are extra open boards started by people on the original board, but they didn't try to sneak around. At least that's the rationale I'm hearing. I messed up and missed the deadline to get an extension for housing, so I have to reapply and the waiting list is about 3 months long. And that's all for now.