Monday, July 31
One of those days. Three, yes, count 'em three, dead batteries (the person who gave me a jump the third time said I have a loose cable, but I know I just need a new battery - funnily, though, it hasn't died before).
I have Aidan in the funhouse mirror as my new walllpaper at work.
Saturday, July 29
Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!
Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this, I guess. I've been helping
Erica with her site.
We're going to a pool party this afternoon.
They've started work on the house next door. The slab for the garage was
laid last week, and now they're laying out the shape of the house with
string. I think they're going to dig the holes for the piers next, since
I can see the stone sitting there. So far it hasn't been noisy at all,
but once the piers are set they'll do the beams and begin framing. That
will be the noisiest part, I guess.
Tuesday, July 25
Does anyone have any digital photos that Erica could use on her web site (to be released later this week)? Anything with her in it....
Sunday, July 23
It was only 75 degrees when we landed here, but very humid. It had just stormed, so we don't have to water! And things don't appear to be dead. We're all exhausted, and Erica and I have sore throats. Does anybody else?
Saturday, July 22
Idlewilde Thursday, wave pool yesterday, paddleboats today.
Nico is tall enough to go on the rides by himself at Idlewilde now. He can even go on some of the rides that you have to be a certain height for even with an adult.
The wave pool was freezing. They still had fun. Nico could play in the waves in the deep end (with a grownup nearby). Aidan is no longer overwhelmed by them. Ed took him to the bathroom. He wanted to use a urinal, but Ed said it came up to his chin so he didn't let him.
They paddleboated with Grandpa and Grandma today, but didn't spend the full hour since their was a new playground in full view of the lake, and the allure was too great. They're going to Schramm's in a few minutes with Grandma.
Thursday, July 13
Hi, Ted.
I'm all packed and exhausted. See you tomorrow and Saturday.
Wednesday, July 12
It was 98° tonight at 8:00. I shudder to think what the temperature was at 2 in the afternoon. Hope it's nice in PA!
Tuesday, July 11
As Outlook was retrieving an e-mail for me tonight at about 7:30 Central Time, my computer crashed. When I rebooted, the new mail was neither in my In Box nor on the server. So if any of you sent me something tonight, please resend it. It was probably junk, though.
Monday, July 10
Arsenic and Old Lace was good. Erica really enjoyed it. She said she'd like to see it again, so we're going to look for some more plays to go to this summer.
Yesterday we went to the beach in Galveston. It was better than I thought it would be, although there were some jellyfish. We bought a boogie board for Erica, but there weren't many waves yesterday. I thought it would be refreshing, but the water was actually hot! About 85°! It actually felt good to get out.
We didn't start selling SBC long distance today, because SBC didn't get the product line to us in time. So I get to tweak my application a bit more.
Friday, July 8
It's 95 here at 6 PM, with a heat index of 105°. I thought it was hotter. Erica was surprised I didn't think 95° was hot enough. It is.
We are all going to see Arsenic and old lace tonight downtown with some old friends of Ed's. Other than that, we spent the day organizing the house, hanging up pictures, etc. It's getting kind of boring!
Thursday, July 6
Here's a recipe from Martha Stewart Living for cranberry buttermilk sorbet. I've made it many times; it's really good, and buttermilk is virtually fat-free.
I ate a baked potato with barbecued brisket on it today for lunch. I wasn't going to at first, but I was told it's really popular here. I figured it's like a sandwich with french fries in it in Pittsburgh. It wasn't bad after all.
Wednesday, July 5
Williams starts selling SBC long distance next week. My initial project, the order tracking system, is in place, but now I have to develop a call tracking system by Monday. I don't think it will be too hard, but I don't have any of the information for the database yet. There is still a gag order on that, so I'll have to wing it. I am going to have a filtered contact list so that each sales rep sees a list of companies they can call, and answers questions on-line during the call. But I don't have the company list, the filters, or any of the information that needs to be recorded. I'll get that Friday.
I may have revealed too much. Perhaps they'll shoot me.
Tuesday, July 4
Happy Fourth of July! (from Erica - sound will be added later). We could see some fireworks from our house, but Erica and I did get in the car and drive a little closer.
Sunday, July 2
Never in a hundred years did I think I would ever have a neighbor named Lola Lopez who paints on her eyebrows every morning, wears a sleeveless "housedress" that shows off a tattoo that must be over forty years old, and works at the chicken factory down the street (yes, we have a chicken factory down the street, but it's not noticeable to us). Lola is not Hispanic; I assume her husband must be. She's very nice, and has lived in the Heights all her life. She was starting to tell me about someone who used to live down the street who was a hussy, but then Ed came outside and she thought better of it.
Lola mentioned that the woman who just moved in two houses up from us is an executive at Exxon, and the residents of the house across the street from that one are doctors. We haven't met them yet. It's a very diverse mix of people here, apparently.
I should probably state here that contrary to what you may think, Erica is not illiterate. She just has a short attention span, and when she wrote about the bus incident Friday, she left mid-sentence to take a shower, and then again to play a Playstation game. Hopefully you could piece together what she meant.
And the chat transcript from yesterday was just speed-typing.
Saturday, July 1
Erica has been using AOL Instant Messaging to chat with her friends at home. If her friends aren't on-line and she's really bored, she chats with herself, typing madly (actual cut and pasted transcript):
Doodye: what r u doing today
Doodye: i'm going to wash and dry my dad and susans cars
Doodye: then later 'm goig to wsah my dads motorcycle so we could ride
on iy
Doodye: sounds coolc huh
Doodye: yeah
Doodye: and tonight we might go to d and b
Doodye: i
Doodye: i'm not stupid you are
Doodye: no you r
Doodye: not me yopu
Doodye: shut up
Doodye: stpo[poisa'p[fi
Doodye: whatever
Doodye: whaever
Doodye: whaever
Doodye: loser
Doodye: loser loner weirdo whatever
Doodye: i'm whing the cars
Doodye: i'm wawshing the cars
Doodye: stop copping me
Doodye: whatever you stop copping me
Doodye: man you r getting on my nerve's
Doodye: i cna't believe that you r doing this to meDoodye: youare such
a loser Doodye: whaever
Doodye: yahoo
Doodye: yahoo
Doodye: loser loner weirdo whatever
The scary thing is that this is exactly the same kind of conversations she has with her real friends (sound familiar, Linda?). We finally put her to work washing the cars.
Here's the recipe for the Treebeard's cake I mentioned last week. It's very sweet, dense and rich, more like a yellow brownie. I like it because it's so easy to make.
