Month: September 2005

We don’t have internet at home. Take a few seconds and try to wrap your minds around that. No internet. At your home. No weather.com, no maps.google.com, no email, no msnbc.com, no yp.yahoo.com… When we get a phone book I don’t even bring it in the house. I just immediately walk it down to the recycle bin. WHY would you EVER need a phonebook if you have THE INTERNET?!? (I actually rant everytime we get a phonebook because I don’t think they should just drop them off at your doorstep. I think you should only recieve one if you ASK for one because really, I’d rather have the small forrest that was killed to make my ONE phonebook.)

Anyway, we have no internet. It was supposed to go down Monday. It didn’t. When I went out to check my email and to see if Eu had updated her blog first thing Sunday morning… there was NO INTERNET. I actually felt my heart start to race as I began to realize that we probably were taken down a day early. On a Sunday. A day early. Ben has explained to me a number of times the reason we have to be without internet for a WEEK during the moving process. It has something to do with the fact that a workorder for the new service can’t be placed till the old service is off. I think anyway, everytime he mentioned the no internet thing I’d kinda drift off and it took a lot of effort to really listen to the explanation. You know, because he was talking about us having NO INTERNET.

So posts will come from work for the week. Because here I have INTERNET. We are SUPPOSED to have it at the new place by the time we move in though… AND I WILL POST SO MANY PICTURES IT WILL MAKE YOU DIZY!!!

We got a lot packed this weekend. I’d guess at LEAST 70% of the house is done. Ben has the kitchen finished. (He packed the entire kitchen BY HIMSELF. He deserves the Best Man of The Century award.) Most of our bathroom and bedroom are packed except for Ben’s clothes, the last of mine and the junk in the closet. I realized last night as Cassidy stood in front of me staring at me with a rather annoyed look on her face that I had packed ALL her toys already. ALL of them. All that’s left out is a box of Crayola markers and some paper. And she has no INTERNET! Not the smartest move I’ve made. She said that since she has no toys to play with she’ll just be helping me pack every day. Helping me. Pack. That translates to: I will be in your way everytime you turn around and putting things into boxes they don’t go in and questioning your every move and pointing out everything you do wrong because YOU PACKED ALL MY TOYS, YOU IDIOT.

We lucked out and Ben’s car will be at the shop for two weeks so yesterday after work Cameron and I moved boxes that are packed, labeled and taped into his garage spot. That way on moving day we don’t have to make 200 trips up and down stairs. We can just load the truck and go.

So close. Yet so far…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

How are we spending it you ask? By packing!! I don’t mind so much because it means that next weekend we will be in the NEW HOUSE(!!). I’m so excited. 🙂

We went to Best Buy today and bought a new washer and dryer. We looked at buying used but after having worked in appliance repair, I know what can go wrong with buying old stuff and I really wanted something that would be more energy and water conserving. Did you know it takes 40 gallons of water to do a large load of laundry. That’s awful. Yeesh. The dryer senses when clothes are dry and stops the dryer even if it has time left. And it’s gas. Hopefully we’ll be saving some long term money.

So, I need to get back to packing. The Man and The Princess should be back soon and I need to make it look like I actually got something done while they were gone.

OH YEAH! I got my dad’s present last night. I love them and the card made me laugh so hard that I had to call Ben and share it right away. It deserves it’s own post though so I’ll do that this evening when I’m taking another.. errr… break. 😉

P.S. – Everybody please keep Eu and her dad in your thoughts and prayers and send them positive vibes. Her whole family needs it right now. I’m thinking of you, Julie.

On Monday at Pasand I told Cassidy that the Simosa’s and Kima Nahn that she loves so much contain lamb. She recoiled.

Cassidy: They take the blood out first though, right?
Me: There is not blood in the meat Cassidy.
Ben: It’s like beef only it’s meat from lambs. You know where beef comes from right?
Cassidy: From Happy Cows.
Me: *start to laugh at what I know is about to come next*
Ben: And where do Happy Cows come from?
Cassidy: CALIFORNIA!!! *laughs at her own joke*
Me: Ahhhh, American media at it’s finest.
Cassidy: *still laughing at herself*
Me: I should blog that.

I find myself saying that far too often about these little conversations and not actually taking the time to sit and write them down fast enough so I forget about them.

So yesterday after we dropped Ben back off at work after taking the deposit to the management company for the NEW HOUSE(!!) Cassidy was being REALLY chatty. She’s been REALLY chatty for about the last two months. TWO. MONTHS.

Cassidy: Mom?
Me: Yup.
Cassidy: Did you blog about that time when Ben said where do happy cows come from and I said california and you laughed and Ben laughed and I laughed because I was really funny?
Me: No, I didn’t. We’ve been really busy.
Cassidy: Are you GOING to blog about it because it was really funny and I think it should be on your website.
Me: Do you?
Cassidy: MmmHmm
Me: Well, we’ll see. Let’s just get home and check your homework and get the stuff done we NEED to get done and we’ll see, okay?
Cassidy: Okay.
*2.4 seconds of silence*
Cassidy: Can I put it on MY website?
Me: *oh no. Not this. Not this conversation.*
Me: Well, your website is kinda broken right now and we are going to be REALLY busy with the move IN A WEEK and my birthday this weekend and our internet connection will go down the 12th and we won’t have it again till when we move into the new house.
Cassidy: So you can fix it then?
Me: *grumble* Yes. I suppose I can.

I changed the subject right away. I wanted to talk to Ben to see how I should handle the rest of the conversation. Last night at dinner I told him about it.

Me: *recounts the conversation in the car*
Me: So then she asked me if SHE could blog on HER website and I might have had a semi freak out moment.
Ben: Does she even know what ‘blog’ means.
Me: She seems to!
Ben: Cassidy, what does ‘blog’ mean?
Cassidy: It’s when you write things on your website in your blog about… things… and stuff.
Me: !!!
Ben: Well, you can write things on your website but FIRST you have to write them down on paper and show us.
Me: *I’m dating the smartest, most level-headed, brilliant man EVER*

She wrote on the table at Macaroni Grill (they GIVE you the crayon’s and the table cloth is PAPER so don’t look at me like that!!):

“I am in second grade. I have friends. I like my friends. My friends are nice.”

And a blogger is born. I’ll get her site up after the move, disable comments, and the girl can blog…

WE GOT THE HOUSE WE GOT THE HOUSE WE GOT THE HOUSE WE GOT THE HOUSE!!! YAY!!

I’ve been absolutley worthless at work today. I’ve gotten stuff done. A lot actually. So maybe I haven’t. But I feel like it. This anticipation is killing me. How long can this take? Hopefully not much longer!!

*starts biting fingernails again*

We found the most fabulous place. We are turning in our applications tomorrow. I’m SO nervous because I have crap credit from the divorce. Ben has awsome credit though so hopefully they’ll look at that and not so much at mine. The guy showing the place was SO nice though and we already told him about my credit and he seemed pretty confident that the place would be ours. I have my fingers crossed.

Cassidy’s room would be downstairs. HUGE with her own massive bathroom. The kitchen is just… it’s a dream. More storage than I could ever fill up with junk. Bacisally the whole upstairs would be mine and Ben’s loft. Big double doors open into the massive master bedroom. THREE closets. Arched entries into the wardrobe and bathroom. TWO FULL bathrooms up there. Plus a small room to turn into an office or… whatever. We’re debating on the office because there is an extra room downstaris we could make into the office. It has a laundry room with MORE storage. And the biggest garage I’ve seen in awhile. With built in work space and MORE storage. AND! A cute little back yard… It’s just. Big.

I want the place. But like Ben says, if it’s meant to be it will. I have faith in that. Karma is strong with him.

This is a newer 3 bedroom 3 bathroom two story condominium that is approximately 2,000 square feet. The condo has a beautiful kitchen with a double oven, gas cooktop, tile counters and a microwave. There is an oversized two garage with opener and there is a private rear yard with a gardener provided. The master bedroom is approximately 12′ x 24′. The unit has an inside washer/dryer hookup, a fireplace in the family room and central air conditioning throughout. The downstairs has hardwood floors. Rent on the unit is $1,795.00 per month with a $1,000.00 security deposit.

Ben had an interesting idea. Look for a new theme to the site soon.

Created a new category: When I rule the World. All posts will contain the laws that will pass immediately upon my taking ownership of the World. I was going to make it Universe but, you know, one step at a time.

When I rule the world…

Law reform #00001:
When work commences after a weekend of three days or more, all citizens of the World shall be given the first day back the option of coming in one hour late and leaving one hour early to reacclimate to the work day. With pay, of course.

I installed Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 the other day. Fantastic game. I was hooked (HOOKED!) on the first two and was really excited to play in 3D and get to RIDE my coasters!

The game has been bug filled from the get go. It just dies and takes the whole PC down with it randomly while playing. I got some compressed air and cleaned the thing out. It was really, really, really dusty. Really. I was hoping it was just running a bit warm. No, still died. I took a video card out of the spare parts pile and installed it. A GeForce 6800 GT. No way this card can’t handle the game. Ben said he’s tested the game at work and never had a problem.

It still dies. So, just for the hell of it I installed UT2003. Played it about 45 minutes at 1600X1200 resolution and all graphics turned all the way up. Not a single hiccup. Played so well I’ve advanced all the way up the Death Match and Double Domination ladders and half way up the Capture the Flag ladder this weekend. I had forgotten how much I love that game.

I guess I can back up my saved games and reinstall RCT3 but at this point the game is kinda tarnished for me. Which sucks because I finished two maps at Tycoon level and was looking forward to harder maps and getting into building my own coasters.

Or I can start Spliter Cell: Chaos Theory which I’ve had installed for a few months now and haven’t started a single time. Or I can finish Doom3 which I never did. Or Half Life 2 which I’m about a quarter of the way through… I need to get to finishing some games!!

At Best Buy today we saw a pre-sell box for Quake 4. *is giddy with anticipation*

When we got Cassidy’s computer all up and running we were both a little concerned with how warm it was running. The cute purple case was OLD. One side panel weighted no less than 5 pounds. Old. We decided that the best option for the whole family was for Ben to get a new case since he hasn’t had one in a quite awhile and then put all Cassidy’s hardware into his old case.

Ben got a nice Estoral Blue case and got all his hardware thrown in there no problem then the next day I put all Cassidy’s stuff into Ben’s old case. And it wouldn’t turn on. No power at all. I was too frustrated to deal with it at the time because I spent about 30 mintues zip-tying all the power cable’s and making it look REALLY pretty in there and the thought of having to UNDO all that was just too much to take.

Today I took the time to look up the manual on LeadTek’s site to make sure the power switch lead actually plugged into the prongs that were labeled “pwsw”. It was. Ben told me to try jumping it with a set of keys. Nothing.

We determined it was the power supply or the motherboard. Which upset me considering they BOTH WORKED prior to being put in the new case. Stupid hardware. We had an old motherboard shoved in the spare hardware pile and so I tried that. Nothing. Had to be the power supply so we made a trek to a local cheapy hardware store and picked up a CoolerMaster Peak 380Watt power supply. All was going to be well with the world.

Got home, installed the power supply… YAY!!! Power. Hooked everything back up, closed up the case, got it in the room, started her up… no video. *humph* Okay. I guess the reason the mother board was in the spare parts pile was because it was broken. SO! I tore it down and put the original mother board back in. Then I took the picture above. Because if it didn’t work again I was going to throw it off the balcony and I wanted photographic proof that I had hooked everything up correctly.

It worked. I hooked up her new speakers we got a week ago. The same day of the case swap. So now she can listen to Gwen Stefani, Mariah and Avril all she wants… in HER OWN ROOM. Three people. Three working computer. All is once again well in the house.

Now we just need to find her a chair.