Month: July 2008

We are officially in the NEW HOUSE. I will continue to capitalize till the NEW HOUSE feel wears off because that’s how I say it in real life. “We went to the NEW HOUSE last night to unlock the gate so the guy could get into the back yard of the NEW HOUSE to work on the NEW HOT TUB.” People look at me a little odd when I say it but no more than usual so I’m used to it.

There was more NEW HOUSE drama yesterday when after work, I swung by the old house to pick up the cats and all the alcohol. I’m not sure why the most important things made it to the NEW HOUSE last.

Ben and the movers had been there and gone so the house was dead quiet and pretty empty. Both the cats aren’t really people lovers so I wasn’t surprised that they’d gone outside when their territory was invaded by several Samoans who were taking all their stuff away.

Hans was in the back yard and when I opened the door he was a little wary, but as soon as he saw it was me he came running and was all, “MAI HOOMAN!! I HAZ HAPPY AND REEKWIRE KEESES AND HUGZ!!” But I couldn’t find KC anywhere. I hung around for an hour and a half packing my car up and calling and calling and Hans kept looking at me like “MY GAWD I’M RIGHT HERE” but no KC anywhere. She’s usually the one that never leaves the yard, or the HOUSE for that matter, so I was a bit concerned. I ended up leaving Hans for that trip thinking that if she came back, he’d be there too so she’d hang around.

I told Ben I was worried so after dinner we drove back over in the truck to pack up a load of the smaller stuff and again we called and called and no KC. I packed up Hans to take back to the NEW HOUSE and as we drove away Ben assured me that KC was probably just hiding out somewhere still pissed off at the ENORMOUS men that had been in her house all afternoon and that she’d turn bacK up. I was pretty sick with worry. I honestly don’t know how the fat ass could have gotten over a fence… she has a hard time hauling all the weight onto our BED. Plus, she has no front claws so I had this horrible vision of some bastard male cat tearing her up. I left the back door open and her food and water dish out so she could get to it and decided to come back before work in the morning to look for her again.

So we get Hans to the NEW HOUSE and he’s not please AT ALL. He hides behind the toilet for the first hour then follows me around letting me know he’s pissed for the rest of the time till we got into bed around 11:00PM. I took a shower and passed the hell out since we’d been up till 1:30 AM that morning doing last minute packing and disassembling furniture for the movers.

For two whole hours I slept and it felt SO GOOD…

And then at 1:00AM Hans started meowing. And meowing. And meowing. And meowing.

Hans doesn’t like to use litter boxes. He goes outside like a dog to do his business but there’s no way I’m turning him loose in a new neighborhood when he’s not even used to the house yet. He’ll use the litter box if it’s NECESSARY, but otherwise he’ll hold it till somebody lets him out.

Ben: Do you think he forgot where the litter box is?
Me: *mumble*
Ben: I’m going to take him downstairs and show him again.
Me: *mumble*

OMG QUIET! *fall asleep*

Five minutes later…

Ben: I think he’ll be better now.
Me: Did he go?
Ben: He pooped and peed.
Me: Awesome.

OMG QUIET! *fall alseep*

Five minutes later Hans started meowing. And meowing. And meowing. And meowing.

At 2:00AM I put a pillow over my head to try and sleep.

At 3:00AM I put ANOTHER pillow over my head to try and sleep.

At 4:00AM he caught on and SAT ON MY HEAD and clawed at my arm.

At 4:30AM my alarm clock went off so I could leave early to check for KC and the old house.

So I got 4 hours of sleep Wednesday and 2 hours last night. And I want to strangle Hans with his own tail.

At 4:45AM Ben and I both got up… and Hans stopped meowing. He got so quiet, in fact, that Ben was worried he had gotten outside. I don’t think he did. I was REALLY careful when I was leaving to make sure that he wasn’t anywhere near the door. I think he’s just SO EXHAUSTED FROM KEEPING US UP ALL NIGHT that he climbed into a pile of boxes somewhere to fall asleep.

I got to the old house at 5:30AM, held my breath and opened the door… and there is KC. Her reaction was completely different than Hans’. It was more like, “WTF HOOMAN!? I HAZ BEEN UP ALL NITE! U R GROUNDED!” I was so overcome with relief that I walked over to pick her up and give her love and she turned her back to me and pranced away like “WHATEVER, I HAZ NO LOVE 2 GIVE.”

So now I’m at work and EXHAUSTED and frustrated and I both cats are pretty high up on my shit list. I think that part of Hans freaking the fuck out last night was that KC was missing. I mean, part of it was being that he couldn’t go out but he usually stays in all night and doesn’t go out till I get up in the morning. But it’s a new strange place and his buddy was missing and I think that had KC been there, he wouldn’t have been quite as freaked out. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself now. If he pulls that shit again tonight I’m gonna lock him in the bathroom with the litter box and food. If I don’t get some sleep tonight there’s a good chance I’LL start pacing the room meowing…

Other than all that, the house is AWESOME. I unpacked a lot of the kitchen last night and every time I walk through a room I love it more and more and more. This just feels so RIGHT. This place, this time, it’s so right for us. We are going to be really happy here.

*deep breath*

I deactivated Intense Debate. It hurt my heart a little to do it because all the folks there have been REALLY AWESOME with my constant desire to FIX THIS! AND NOW THAT! But aflux’s load times with ID deactivated is MUCH better. Much.

Also, it was causing about 111 validation errors and apparently that’s like, really, really important to some anonymous people on the internet. *nods*

Unfortunately, the process to import all those comments back into the WordPress database via the control panel is causing a memory error and until I can call my host to have that fixed, they have all disappeared. If I get time I’ll do it today but I just wanted to let you all know I haven’t deleted you! Just kinda hidden you in the back of a closet till I can find the time to organize you all neatly again.

I also got rid if IZEA’s ad over there *points right*. It was a “test ad” that they used to create some data points. I will miss it though because it was bringing in some decent money but, meh. It was causing validation errors also, and again, VERY IMPORTANT to be XHTML compliant if the original theme developer puts a link there!

And yeah, I need to add some kind of styling to the tweets and delicious feeds but they’ve taken a pretty big back seat to all the damn house drama. I’ve neglected pretty much every online project and community over the last few weeks (excluding Twitter of course, I’m busy, not DEAD).

By the way, did I mention?!

WE ARE HOMEOWNERS! We got keys yesterday and found a reason to get over to the house last night and took some clothes and food over with us. There is SO MUCH I want to write about the process of buying our first home. SO. FUCKING. MUCH. But today I need to just concentrate on getting work done, then getting home to pack the last of the stuff up before the movers come tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday, all!

I had a really cool first post from the new WordPress iPhone app all typed out and then the save button disappeared and the app ate it.

Now all you get is this sad little post instead.

Tonight we spent an hour and a half signing the final paperwork for the house which means NO MORE HOOPS!! YAY! The papers should arrive at the title company Monday morning then Countrywide can fund and we’ll get keys either Monday or Tuesday. I was REALLY hoping that we would get to move this weekend and have next week to unpack while Cassidy is at her Nana and Papa’s but I guess we’ll make it work.

OMG WE JUST BOUGHT A HOUSE.

Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement in the comments of the last post. I REALLY needed to remember that there was actually reason for all this misery because I was being a whiny brat.

Now I’m going to go drink a glass of wine. Or nine.

If you ever get the idea to buy a house let me just give you some advise right now: DON’T.

If anybody told me that it was going to be an stressful as it is, I don’t know that I’d have followed through. It’s one fucking hoop to jump through after the other, which in normal circumstances wouldn’t be so bad, and I’m so over hoops. And it’s not just, “Oh hey, we have this hoop we want you to jump through.” Instead it’s, “Hey we have this flaming hoop and we need you to jump through it backwards while doing a headstand on a three legged retarded giraffe, okay? No biggie. But if you could just get that done 10 minutes ago and fax me the proof? THANKS!”

We were supposed to close yesterday but instead we were thrown this curve ball and it’s been hoop after hoop after hoop today, and assuming that no other bullshit hoops get thrown in our path, we should be able to sign by Friday. Please keep your fingers crossed for us… We really need the extra love right now.

Like most good geeks I downloaded and installed the 2.0 software yesterday and then downloaded EVERY SINGLE FREE APP AVAILABLE (and one paid app). Special thanks to TechCrunch for being on top of things and posting all downloads and links early. The app store is awesome. So far I’m pretty happy with most apps, especially the AIM, Twitterific, and the Faceobook app.

AND!

[StarWarsGeekGirl]

PhoneSaber! That was the first app I showed Ben. I’ve played with this app far too much. I can’t help it. I chased the cat around this morning and it was an epic battle that ended with him fleeing with his tail between his legs. HA!

Okay, I’ll stop now.

[/StarWarsGeekGirl]

The Facebook app is CRAZY fantastic and the developers should be very proud. It’s like a contact list on steroids. From now on instead of asking for a phone number to put into my phone I’m just gonna say “Add me on Facebook!” I’ve never really gotten fully into the Facebook craze even though I have a lot of friends that use it. Having to log in EVERY TIME I visit and the cluttered feeling have kept me away. Now that this is available, I expect that I’ll be much more active in that community… because, you know, what I really need is ANOTHER online community to become addicted to.

One thing I’d really love to see is a way to push info from Facebook to our contact lists, that would be the ultimate in coolness. GET ON THAT DEVELOPERS! kthxbye.

Twitterific is SO VERY PRETTY. I felt kind of bad for ditching Hahlo so quickly (for about 2.4 seconds) then The Pretty won me over. Twitterific is so easy to read and very well laid out for @replies and the integrated Safari browser with the option to also open in the browser for bookmarking was GENIUS. They really captured what twitter users want, I’d say better than even twitter does.

Now, if WordPress can just get it’s app out, I’ll be the happiest little blogger geek. From what I’ve seen though it will be awesome too. Easy to post, integrate pictures from the iPhone gallery on the fly, etc. It, combined with Typepad’s already available app, will take mobile blogging to the next level. It will be cool to see people doing more real time blogging of events.

I won’t be getting a 3G anytime soon because we close on the house today and we can’t really afford to be spending the money on new toys but a little part of me is happy that I got the App Store 24 hours before the 3G users. And my phone will always have the pretty metal back that I’ll flash around like a badge of geeky honor. 😉

Edit to Add:
Ben blogged about this subject today, and he’s a much better expert on how he’s doing than I am, so once you’re done here head over there to read what he had to say. 🙂

People have been sending emails, messages and tweets asking how Ben is doing and what the final word is on his back and the all encompassing answer is:

I don’t know.

We got some MRI results back and it doesn’t look great but how NOT GREAT we won’t know till he can see a specialist on July 18th.

He still has pain pretty much every day. The problem is that he works in the lab an nVidia staring at computer screens all day while sitting and all that sitting seems to cause his back to flair up at night. Sit all day, pain and discomfort at night. It’s a bad cycle but for right now there’s not a solution and there probably won’t be till he can get to the doctor.

So I’m not ignoring you! I promise. Well, I might be a little but only because I’m pretty much doing all the packing to move because he can’t and they just moved our close date up from two weeks away to one week, THIS WEEK, and I have Carrielee coming in this weekend, and I’m swamped at work from being gone after the accident and then a short week last week. Basically, I just DON’T HAVE TIME to answer anybody so here are the facts for EVERYBODY.

My biggest concern is that they are going to say he can’t get back into the race car again. I’d be devastated if they took away something he is so passionate about. BUT! Positive thoughts and all that jazz! And now I’m off to pack more. Bother.

I have an iPhone 3G rant swirling around in my head but I still think I’m too frustrated at this whole, you have an iPhone already so you have to pay more bullshit and I’m not certain I’ll be able to write about it without completely breaking The Internet’s profanity allowance for the next 72 years…

We’ll see.

Title quote: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Okay, so there has been this debate of sorts going around the tech/geek community for the last week or more basically paring twitter vs FriendFeed. And like I said on iJustine’s blog about it, I think the entire debate is null because it’s like comparing apples to an entire fruit salad. Twitter is micro blogging and FriendFeed is an aggregate for 41 different applications, including Twitter, with other features like commenting. You really just can’t compare them other than to say that they are both social networking sites but so are MySpace and Facebook and look how different they are. (In case you don’t get how they are different: MySpace sucks balls and Facebook doesn’t. IF YOU LEARN NOTHING ELSE FROM THIS BLOG POST, LEARN THAT!)

The debate is also questioning which one will become mainstream first, if either ever will. My opinion? I don’t really see it happening. When I try and explain the concept of twitter to non-geek folk, they just look at me with a blank stare and inevitably the same response: But, why? They just don’t get the micro blogging community as a whole. Now, compare it to a MySpace bulletin and eyes light up and lights come on and angels sing and THERE IT IS! There’s UNDERSTANDING in the eyes, they get it! Then you say, well just cut out all the spammy shit and do it in less then 140 characters. And THERE IT IS AGAIN, the blank stare.

I think that realistically, twitter stands more of a chance to become mainstream just because FriendFeed has SO MUCH of Teh Geek linked to it. Walk up to your mom, aunt or dentist and ask them what Vimeo is. Or brightkite. Or del.icio.us. Or hell, even Digg. Chance are if you are reading this blog you’ve heard of all or most of those but I bet you that your “mainstream” friends have NO CLUE. So how are they supposed to ever really grasp FriendFeed, which is just an aggregate of all those services?

Anyway, this post was originally going somewhere else and ended up here. So with that I’ll ask your opinion! What are your favorite Social Networking tools? I updated my FriendFeed accout today to include most of them that I use and there are SEVENTEEN accounts.

My FriendFeed account links to:

1. twitter
2. Facebook
3. brightkite
4. del.icio.us
5. Digg
6. Flickr
7. GoogleReader shared items
8. GoogleTalk status changes
9. Intense Debate
10. LinkedIn
11. Pownce
12. StumbleUpon
13. Tumblr
14. Vimeo
15. YouTube
16. Zooomr
17. Aflux’s RSS feed

And that’s just where I got to before I got tired of adding them to FriendFeed. Add me to any or all or none. I’m just kind of interested to see how many of these ACTUALLY get used because on some of them I’ve signed up to secure the name, played with them a bit, then completely forgotten about them. I’m going to pay attention to FriendFeed for the next few days and see how much any of them actually get used and based on your answers to which you use more, see if maybe twitter isn’t as popular as some of these debates would have you think… but I’m skeptical. I get a lot of twitter traffic.

Seriously needs to be viewed large to appreciate.

For Reese’s Macro Monday.