Packed and packing

Listening to the rain, and watching "The Aviator." The new HD video cables made a huge difference in the picture quality, especially when the light has dimmed down.

Mark was in town for Christmas. He and I exchanged some emails; which advanced today to telephone calls and text messages, but his family schedule and my work schedule didn't mesh enough that we could meet up. He's going back home after next week.

Everything's all packed and ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, John II is going to church with me, then taking me to the airport directly after church is over.

Three days in the family. Yowie. I'm packed up with gifts, but need wrapping paper. And gift cards.

The Merlin card is working and ready for use. The Treo is cleaned up and loaded with pictures and music. Headphones are packed; all three sets thereof. Computer games. Book to read. Journal to journal in. Bag's packing all rationalized finally.


Everything old is new again - shower door edition: after nine months here, I only yesterday got the shower door's hard water stains cleaned off. I tried everything, including some acid wash that PROMISED to clean hard water stains. Nothing made a dent.

Then, in my endless research about the Phaeton, I discovered an article that discussed the surfactant that's in car wash solution, which builds up on windshields and makes everything all smeary. They suggested using Bon Ami or Bar Keeper's Friend. I bought some for Scarlett's windshield (which was a slimy mess,) and it worked GREAT. Then, I brought it inside the house, and started using it on the stainless steel pans. AMAZING. The two quart saucepan that Joseph burned out back eight years ago cleaned RIGHT out. The stainless frying pan - clean as a whistle. I went to town on the pans. Cleaned the baking sheet, right out to the corners.

Finally, yesterday afternoon late, I used it to clean the inside of the shower door. It's clean as a WHISTLE. Holy cow!

Bar Keeper's friend. Get a case.

I need to go get the headphone attachment for the Treo out of the desk upstairs. And some AA batteries. And remember to pack the charger for the Treo and its headset.

Anyway..

a big, important piece

Many years ago, when I hadn't been driving a car for very long, my grandfather explained to me how to keep the car between the white lines on the road - how to drive confidently and smoothly: you focus down the road - the further the better. You are focusing on where you're going, and not where you are. Since you're focusing on where you're going instead of where you are, your efforts become more smooth and relaxed. You aren't making micro-corrections all of the time to adjust what may seem like obstructions and off course movements.

I took his advice, and my driving (most of the time) is quite smooth and workable. I've not had any sort of auto incident in years; since 1988.

Yesterday, John II and I were talking about drivers, and I re-told that story. Then, last night, I talked to Susan about the whole sales contract thing, and realizing that I love this house, and that there is a benefit in having the consciousness that things will work out just fine, and that this place isn't the be-all and end-all; there are other opportunities.

This morning, as I was meditating, it hit me - just as with driving a car, focusing on the apparent obstacles and miscues that are right here makes for unsmooth, unconfident choices and experience. Focusing further down the path brings more confidence, more opportunity, and more smoothness.

Implemented immediately.

Later, after hearing an expression of fantasy

John II has headed off for the night. I have Tom Time at 21:00.

Decisions, decisions.

Decision #1 today was "I don't even THINK so."

Decision #2 was "scrambled eggs, biscuits and breakfast meat."

Decision #3 was to walk to Lowe's and back for exercise (2.5 miles)

Decision #4 was to buy HD video cables for the DVD player/HD TV connection.

Decision #5 was to work on banking and book keeping. Charged up all the barter work I did for Twitch this past year; oof. I'd have been happy to have had it in cash, I think. More needs doing.

Decision #6 was that the counter offer on this house was beyond silly. It was just insane. I'm going to look at two other houses tomorrow.

Decision #7 was that John II is awesome, and I am willing to keep him around.

The Last Friday

So, a few final notes before the holidaze takes over:

1. The correct phrase is "couldn't have cared less." Think about it - if you COULD have cared less, then you cared to some extent. So, if your concern about a person or a situation has zeroed out, and you haven't a spare ion of mental focus for them - you COULD NOT CARE LESS than the amount that you do. The contraction for could not being "couldn't," please spend some of your New Year's resolve speaking your lack of concern properly.
2. Another correct phrase, but far more obscure. People express their anxiousness by saying "I waited with baited breath," as if they've set out a deer lick for the time clock. The correct phrase is "with abated breath," abated meaning interrupted. In other words, you're HOLDING YOUR BREATH waiting on the outcome. "Abated breath."
   
3. There is a riot of people who incorrectly use "me" and "I" these days, with most people saying "I" improperly. Such as "Here is a picture of the Divo and I." Uh, no. You wouldn't say "here is a picture of I." It even sounds funny. Here's how to distinguish between which you should be using: Drop out the "and However you would refer to just yourself is 99.44% of the time the way it should be done.
4. Irregardless of what you think, Irregardless contradicts what it is you want to express. When someone says "irregardless," they intend to say that they are not considering the other possibilities. When you ad "ir-" as a prefix to a word, it means not : NON-, UN- - So, when you say "irregardless," what you're REALLY saying is "Not regardless." WHen you strike out the inherent double negative, you're saying "with regard." Which is the opposite of what you have in mind.

Okay, so that's a good start.

This is just fabulous

After giving pretty much this Sunday talk last week, here I find someone who neatly summed it all up SO much more clearly:

From the Daily Kos writer Toad 734

Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 01:41:44 PM PST

With the Jew who stole Christmas controversy heavy on the minds of the weary travelers at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport and the Democrats taking control of the House and the Senate there is likely to be a renewed fear that the Liberals want kill the baby Jesus and destroy Christmas. Because killing a holiday on which the economy is dependent and getting this holiday off our work calendar is at the top of the list of every card carrying member of the ACLU. Christians, as it turns out, have typically been their own worst enemies when it comes to destroying religious holidays. They turned All Holy Eve into Halloween and Candlemas into Groundhogs Day. The point is Christmas, and most of its traditions, were never really Christian to begin with.

• toad734's diary :: ::
• 
  

Earliest examples of "Christmas" were practiced as long as 4000 years ago by Babylonians as a celebration of a 12 day New Year festival honoring the god Marduk. Also called Sacaea by the Persians, these celebrations involved holiday feasts, giving gifts, and caroling.

The Roman Pagan celebration of Saturnalia started in the middle of December and lasted until January 1st. This was a celebration of the solstice, marking the Sun's return. The exchange of gifts, decoration of homes with greenery, feasts, and the suspension of private and public business marked this celebration. Once Christianity began to spread throughout the Empire, Pagan and Christian societies began to merge and the prosecution of Christians decreased. During the reign of Constantine (a sun worshiper), Pope Julius I moved Christmas from January 6th (Epiphany) to December 25th, which was the Pagan Deus Sol Invictus, or the birthday of the unconquered Sun god. Sun god. Son of God. Not a huge leap of faith for these early Christians assuming the Latin words for "son" and "sun" sound as similar as they do in English--but really, who speaks Latin? This is where Christmas started to take on some of the traditions and meanings that we see today. Still, these events are not the only things that contribute to Christmas as we know it.

Yule or Yuletide was the Pagan winter solstice celebration which in the Julian calendar was December 25th and Gregorian calendar December 21st. The Scandinavians and Germanic tribes of Northern Europe celebrated this as the return of the sun from the long dark winter nights. Trees were decorated with candles, holly decorated doors, a Yule log was burned, and feasts were prepared along with the sacrifice of a pig, which is where we get the traditional Christmas ham. The mistletoe was used in both Norse and Druid celebrations. Obviously, as Christianity spread in this region, Scandinavian seasonal celebrations merged with the Roman's Pagan/Christian winter solstice holiday. It must also be noted that Odin, the primary figure in Norse mythology, had a hat and a big white beard had a flying 8 legged Horse instead of 8 flying reindeer. Odin at one point also had hung from a tree and had a spear wound not unlike the fate of Jesus.

One other reason that Christmas is not a Christian holiday is that Jesus was not born on December 25th, nor is there really any proof that he was born in Bethlehem in a cold manger. Every Biblical scholar knows that if Jesus was born when "shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night." that this would have to have been between the months of March and November as it would have been too cold for the shepherds to have still been there at night in the cold rainy season. Since we know Jesus was born 6 months after John the Baptist and we know he was born in late March or early April, Jesus had to have been born in late September or early October at the latest.

Christmas has really always been a celebration of winter solstice, it’s just that in our calendar it is 4 days off the mark due to the difference in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Just as they did with the once secular pledge of allegiance and our currency, Christians stole Christmas and made it their own, adding the nativity scene and Jesus' birthday. Somehow, secular Americans are the assholes when we merely try to take the pledge, our dollar bill, or Christmas back to its original incarnation.

My Father is an Atheist, my Mom is a Christian who doesn't believe Christmas is Jesus' birthday, and I am Agnostic. We all welcome Christmas as a time for sharing and togetherness, not the birth of baby Jesus in his manger. What does a Christmas tree have to do with the birth of your savior? What does getting your kid the new Playstation have to do with Christianity? Nothing. And you know who else thought this way? The Puritans.

That’s right, about the time they started burning witches, Puritans in New England outlawed the Christmas celebration. Christmas, The Mass of Christ, was considered to be a Catholic holiday which had nothing to do with the actual birth or birth day of Christ so they therefore outlawed the Pagan traditions of decorating trees and caroling. Since they believed that the Christmas celebration and the birth of Christ was completely separate, Christmas was outlawed in Boston from 1659-1681 and the Colleges in New England didn't even start observing Christmas until about 1847. Christmas was not declared a federal holiday until 1870. Other "religious" holidays destroyed not by liberals and Barbara Boxer but by Protestants include: All Holy Eve (Oct 31st), Candlemas (Feb 2nd), Michaelmas (Sept. 29th) and Childermas (Dec 28th). For these right wing nut jobs to say that December 25th, and all that is associated with that day, is purely Christian, is ludicrous. So when they say that the secular Christ-haters are trying to destroy Christianity when we call it the holidays and not Christmas, tell them that you think it's ironic that someone who thinks that America was founded by Puritans is so intent on going against Puritan beliefs, which were anti-Christmas. You can also tell them that you find it ironic that the same people who are trying to censor the internet, cable TV, song lyrics and art are offended when someone tries to censor their 1st amendment rights.

No one wants to destroy Christmas, you are paranoid. Who doesn't want a couple of days off work every year to hang out with family and friends to eat, drink, be merry and get presents? We just realize that roughly 23% of the US is not Christian; you cannot simply bully minorities because you outnumber them. We realize that all the traditions of Christmas, except going to mass, are secular and or pagan. We realize that like the Pledge of Allegiance and US currency it has been adopted by Christianity, not the other way around.

So if some Jews in your town don't want The Night Christ was Born playing at the town hall manger, get over it. Go home and play your own Christmas music; you are free to do so. You wouldn't like it if you were forced to fast for Ramadan would you?

Sources: Holidays.net, History Channel, Wikipedia, Pantheon.org, World Wide Church of God (wcg.org) , Religioustolerance.org, All about Jesus Christ, Renewamerica

Happy Hump Day

Drove from one side of the county to the next today. Scarlett is dirty. I mean, DIRTY. She needs floor mats (I've ordered the color swatches) and the phone mount, and .... well, cleaning.

I got an EZtag for her today; and almost backed into a light pole at Dr. Rick's office. As I came into the parking lot, I could see that the light pole was right behind where I was parking. I thought that I needed to be very careful as I backed out of the space after having my head rotated. That lasted right up until the time that he rotated my head, and then I totally forgot that the light pole was behind me.

I threw her in gear, backed up without looking and ... as I finished the turn, I saw the light post RIGHT. NEXT. TO. MY. WINDOW.

Yowie. Saved by .. no one's sure.

Waiting for the sheets to finish in the washer so I can heave them into the dryer and then put them on the bed and get into them.

The lender's realtor called Susan today and said that they were going to counter. They're also going to list the house for $250M, which is a real giggle, considering that the house across the street (listed for more than a year) has been at $249,900 for 90 days with no one even LOOKING at it. One more bedroom, and 300 more square feet, and immaculate.

We'll see what develops next.

Tuesday trauma

So, the cube next to my miracle cube has been vacant this entire time. The fellow who "occupied" that cube has been working for another lender. We had told him to get his stuff out of here, and he had not complied.

Yesterday, it seems that he was going to be written up for non-performance. He quit. Now, he's here, and he's loud, snorts, blows, throws things against the cube wall, has poor bathing habits and is relentlessly on the phone with no letup.

I'm pretty quiet.

Spent time today trying to wrestle down my 2007 schedule, at least through June. Looked at the church convention, did the cost work, sent out the email about all of that. John II and his friend Big Jeremy have asked me to join them on their Eastern European Toothless Hooker Tour in late May (I'd stop when I got to Budapest, because I prefer opera, good architecture and people with teeth.) That requires more information. I still want to take the RSVP cruise on the QM2 in May. I'm trying to see whether I can combine the posh RSVP cruise with the EETHT chaperon effort.

Apparently, being a cast-iron bitch with internet access makes a huge difference. As I noted yesterday, David Taylor Cadillac called in the afternoon to advise that my car had been repaired. This morning, I went to pick it up. In the five hours that they had the car, they replaced the water pump and related gaskets to correct the low coolant sensor reading, and they replaced the steering middle shaft to fix the binding in the front driveline.

Well, how about them apples? They get an A+, two thumbs WAAY up, and a big gold star!

Monday, Monday ver. 833.01

Took Scarlett into David Taylor this morning - I guess my bitchfest last week must have done something, because they had the car fixed in five hours. Gadzooks.

FINALLY got the desktop computer moved down into the kitchen. The wireless network card (for the desktop) works GREAT. I am going to start moving documents off of it and onto the lappy, and stripping it down to just be a financial software computer.

I'll have to get a LCD monitor for it; the Gigante 21" monitor that I was using is off to one side and makes my neck hurt when I sit there for any period of time working on it.

Chased Tom around; never wrestled him to the ground. Did a bunch of estimates. Did laundry. Called Verizon about adding service with them; have to go to the store and talk to them. Answered some client emails and phone calls. Revised my will, living will, guardianship and medical POA forms. Moved the phone and the MFC downstairs from the office; mounting the phone on the wall, I was able to plug the MFC (fax/printer/copier/scanner) into an old DSL wallplate that I still had, which gives me a side telephone jack (two jacks, one neat mounting.) The old AT&T 964 phone (which is STILL fabulous) hangs on the wall jack, and the fax cable plugs in right behind it, neat as you please. Yanked up both owner's manuals online, and spent about an hour programming each device so that the fax only picks up on a fax call, and the phone works as an answering device. That felt righteous; I can still receive faxes without being here, and the phone is now a HOME TELEPHONE! That's right, a home phone with an answering device. Not that anyone has the number, but it is listed.

Felt half full most of the day.

Have to run over to pick up Scarlett first thing in the morning, then have three client meetings tomorrow, plus have to do another client's accounting work (that stuff is at the office, or I would have done it today.) That will leave me with JUST ONE client's accounting work to finish, which I would have also done today had I had their file password.

Hung out with Secret Agent Man for an hour today. He expressed dismay that I had bought a Pontiac - he said he saw me as a Cadillac man. Specifically, an STS-V. Well, how about that? A nice choice, but not until they're about two years old. But, it could be financially beneficial to drive this car for two years, then sell it while it still has the service contract and upgrade to the STS-V.

I laundered the sheets today, and didn't get them on the bed yet. I need to fluff the featherbed, which requires taking off the mattress pad, and .. that seemed like too much effort in the moment.

This means that it's required NOW, at 22:15. Bleh. Off to make up the bed with the red sheets, shams and duvet. Then, to get into it.

Sunday evening with the HD

So, after weeks of thinking, researching, planning, investigating and calling, I've decided to re-up my contract with Spring PCS. I was going to go with Verizon, and share minutes with the OnStar hands-free calling in the car, BUT .. I'd have to buy a new phone, and Verizon is WAY more expensive than is Sprint.

So, I'm signing up on my existing price plan for two years, swapping out the second voice line for a data card, and I'm going to add this and this and this to Scarlett. Which will give me hands-free calling with what I have now, all for less than the price of a new phone. And, navigation.

Except that, tonight, on the way to Memorial Park to meet up with Guy for a walk, I tried the hands-free phone built into the car to call my sister. It was AWESOME. Now, I have to go see whether I can get a mini-Verizon plan or something.

Scarlett goes back to David Taylor in the morning to finish her open repair ticket. I expect she's going to be there until at least Wednesday. Today, she started surging at stop lights when idling against the brake. I think she has a sensor issue or two.

At the Walgreen's today, some guy stopped me in the parking lot as I was backing out and yelled "Nice car!"

It's been a LOOOONG time since that's happened to me.