It's Not Like I've Been Doing Nothing...

How do you like that for a double negative?

This has been a very busy week, with not much to show for it. But it looks like things are settling down just a little bit. I've spent most of the week getting the new laptop up-to-speed (still working on a nagging security issue with my connection to the Cleveland Company) and also have lost a lot of time on Nate's mp3 player issues.

Nate's Creative Zen V Plus was a great little player. Until it stopped playing with our computers. I found the Creative site to be no help at all with his particular issue. The player would not be recognized by either Napster or Windows Media Player. Even Creative's firmware that I downloaded fresh would not see that the player was connected. After losing several hours and plenty of hair, I finally toted it to Best Buy.

That ended up being a happy experience. When I bought the player last summer I paid for a Product Replacement Plan...not a "performance" plan. So when I showed them the player, they sent me to pick out a new one for the same price. They don't carry Creative anymore, so I chose an Insignia player (Best Buy's own brand) with 8GB of memory. And so here we are now with a happy guy and a nice mp3 player.

Nate's car is also being repaired and hopefully it will return home late next week. He has to have a new hood, headlight, radiator and air conditioner condenser. The original estimate called for many other repairs because they couldn't get the hood open so they made wild guesses. Once Mensa Boy and Nate popped the lid with crowbars, the damage was re-assessed and the repair bill went down $1000. So the total cost of the project will be $1600 and Nate will pay half. That will double the value of his car to us. We paid only $1800 when we bought it! But since it has a fairly new engine, it seems like a wise decision.

And this morning I'm finding myself to be pleasantly surprised by Windows Vista. I've been skeptical of the whole operating system. I never really felt like I had heard much positive about it. It is true that it's a nag, but you can control many of the nagging bits off. What I found this morning that I like is the parental controls. With Nate's new mp3 player only being usable on my computer right now (his computer needs some desperate overhauling), I'm having to set up a user account on my computer for him to use Napster and Media Player. I found that Vista allows me to control everything the guys can do on this computer, including which programs can be run. So I set up an account for them that is not password-protected that will only allow them to use those two programs. They will have to use their own computer for everything else, including surfing the net.

So. That's my story. Today I need to work on some accounting and then I can start doing some paying work. OH! I'm going to be covering the Track team! I guess I'm the "running writer" now.

A Financial Tornado

To say these last couple of days have been "interesting" would definitely be an understatement.

On Valentine's Day this happened:

The boy is ok, but he's in mourning. And of course he's concerned about the state of his financial affairs. He'll have to help pay for the damage, that's for sure. But at this point he's really the only member of the family that has money that is not earmarked for bills or whatever. We are still waiting for estimates. We suspect the engine will be fine, but perhaps he'll need new motor mounts. Radiator, of course, and headlight.

He says there was a driver behind him that was weaving in and out of traffic and then riding his bumper. He was coming up to a light and was watching the guy behind him rather than the one in front. So he didn't stop at the light in time. Apparently the hit-ee was pretty nice. He said he didn't care. Old truck. He was one of the original construction guys on our neighborhood many years ago. He rehabs Camaros for a hobby. Has several in fact. We are glad he wasn't driving one at the time!

So Nate is without wheels for now and that means Mom's taxi service is back in business. yippee.

Friday morning I woke up to new computer problems. My desktop computer was built to my specs in 2001. It has served me very well. But for the past few years it has had a steady diet of new RAM, new hard drives, power supplies, etc. Friday morning it was just rebooting over and over. It's done that before, and probably could be fixed. But I thought it was time for a new computer. The old one just does not have the kind of power to run multiple programs. Especially that I need for processing photos. So I bought a new laptop. Cha-ching!

When I brought the new laptop home I set it up and downloaded my email. In my inbox was a notification from the SC Department of Education. They are awarding Nate $3,200 in grant money if he attends a private SC college! {{head spinning around}}

SO! That part is pretty cool!

Happy Valentine's Day

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

My advice to everyone? Marry UP. That's what I did!

Grape Stomp

When Grape Stomping Goes Horribly Wrong

Do Not Touch!

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic
I found this folder in a Sunday School room at the church.

The Shot in the Arm We Needed!

A letter from Erskine College informing Nate that he is the recipient of the Garnet Scholarship. This is an $8,000 per year scholarship. HOO HOO! Only $20,000 more to find!

Pretty soon I'll have to break the news to him that he needs to take the SAT again. Or the ACT. Or both. He's 10 points shy of getting a $5000 per year grant from the state of South Carolina. He's taken it twice already, and his scores improved quite well the second time around, but his combined Critical Reading and Math are 10 points shy. So. We'll do that!

Ash Wednesday

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Pastor Ed Galloway, who is the minister at our sister church, gave a short sermon tonight at the Ash Wednesday service. He said "There's a longing in our hearts to come before our Lord and acknowledge our sin. Only He can redeem us. Only He can cleanse us from our sin.

Ed reminded us that we can wash the ashes off our foreheads, but "We have been marked with an indelible blessing that has been inscribed on our hearts."

Apparently the Boy will not become a Vegetarian

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Electile Dysfunction

Electile Dysfunction : the inability to become aroused over any of the
choices for president put forth by either party in the 2008 election
year.

Searching for Money

With all the talk about our economy and the shrinking buying power of the dollar, it's a little daunting (actually a LOT daunting)to think about trying to gather funds for Nate to go to college.

This weekend I hope to have the last bits of documentation I need to get our taxes done. For some reason our mortgage interest statement hasn't arrived yet. Usually it's one of the first things. And I don't have a 1099 from the paper, but I can easily total up my earnings from 2007 so that we can at least get a start.

After the taxes are done...next week, I know because our accountant promised he'll do ours right away because of college money search...I will navigate through the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). This form is apparently the be all and end all to getting financial assistance for college.

We have divided up the money search responsibilities. I am to do searching, paperwork, and number crunching. Nate will complete scholarship applications and write essays. Mensa Boy will be his cheerleader, helping him to decide which scholarships interest him and might be worth spending time on, and editing & proofreading his essays. So far Nate has done 3 or 4 applications and last night he wrote an essay. Hopefully the two of them can work on 2 or 3 scholarships a week.

So that's what's going on here. I fully anticipate that the bush beating for money will be my third parttime job. And I'm ok with that.

Wine Notes: Francis Ford Coppola Rosso Bianco 2005

Francis Ford Coppola Rosso Bianco 2005
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

This is a blend of reds. It's easy to find in the just about every grocery store. It's pretty much okay. Not as smooth as my favorite reds, but not too tannic. I'd buy it again if it were on sale (although it's cheap anyway) and I couldn't find Marietta Cellars or Wolf Blass.

Yesterday I played. Well, I did do some work. I got up and wrote a story about our middle school dedication ceremony that we had on Sunday. I got that thing down on the screen and filed by 8:30. My friend Cassie turned 50 on Sunday and took yesterday off, so I did too. We had both worked all weekend...the primary on Saturday and then I worked a story on Sunday. So yesterday we spent the day together. Here is a rundown of what we did:

Jazzercise

Lunch: Nothing but Noodles. You know, I had eaten there once before and thought "eh." Sort of a middle-of-the-road that meal was. But yesterday was excellent and really hit the spot. We liked both of our dishes. I had Sesame Lo Mein with shrimp and Cassie had Southwest Chipolte with shrimp.

Movie: "Atonement." Now, for about the first 40 minutes Cassie was getting a little nervous. Had she pulled a boner choosing this movie? Would it be "White Oleander" all over again? Cassie and I love to go to movies but if one of us chooses a movie that is hideous, then they are in the doghouse until they choose what we call a "redemption movie." My last doghouse flick was "Little Miss Sunshine," the blame for which I lay completely on my friend Julie. That movie was so awful that I started apologizing within the first 10 minutes and then apologized for every week until my redemption flick many months later...which was "Waitress." Cassie had to admit that "Waitress" was SO good that I probably had not only redeemed myself for the "Sunshine" movie, but I had also banked up points against the next poor choice.

But I digress. "Atonement." Neither of us had read the book. I generally wouldn't have anyway. I don't like seeing movies when I've read the book. I'm pretty much always disappointed. So the movie was very slow starting out the gate and then had a couple of "lookback" scenes that took too long for the viewer to realize they were looking back. It just took TOO LONG for the movie to get to the bad thing that needed atonement.

But once the bad thing occurred, then the movie went along right well. And it ended well. Not a happy ending, but a good ending.

So. Would I recommend it? Yes, but I'd say "when you go, don't give up." We both agreed that if we were watching it on TV or had it on DVD? We would have clicked off and missed a nice movie. No rave reviews, though.

After the movie: Yoga. You might think that two hour-long workouts in one day is too many. But I will say here that the yoga is really helping a lot. The stretching and the breathing goes a long way to relieving fatigue and body pain. It increases mobility, too. Monday is the only day I do two workouts in one day, though.

After yoga: Library Board meeting. Pretty uneventful.

Then a late supper while watching Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. BBC shows reruns it every day at 6. If it weren't for the language and the bleeping, I'd really really enjoy it. Now I just really enjoy it!

So. After all that playing yesterday I have a ton a work to do today. And in a couple of days I'll be adding a third full time job: Nate's financial aid researcher. Right after the taxes are done.

NavelGazing/NavalGazing

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Just Following Directions

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

How do I Get Out of This?

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Yesterday's self-portrait theme was "upside-down." Yes, I could have just hung my head over the edge of a couch or chair. Or even just bent over at the waist and peered through my legs. But no! That would have been too easy!

So I put my camera on my tripod, which I had threaded through the spindles of the upstairs landing rail. I then tied the neckstrap to the spindles. Set the camera to fire by remote, and went downstairs to contemplate how I was going to get on my hands.

Everything went really well until I got to this point.

I did get Nate to help me later. He stood me on my hands while I shot another photo. But I didn't really like those as much. I had wanted to use a moderate depth of field, with my feet in focus and gradually losing focus as you looked down toward my head. But instead I ended up with my belt in focus. In the end, this outtake seemed better than the original idea.

On an unrelated note: We are going to be parents of an Erskine student! Nate was accepted to Erskine College, which is a private Presbyterian College in Due West, SC. The setting and college is remarkably similar to our alma mater. Unfortunately, it is a private college, with a corresponding private college tuition. Visit Erskine online at http://www.erskine.edu.

The photographer and His Subject

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Actually, his real subject was peanut butter. A tiny dab on the back of the camera.
Mensa Boy had the idea for this shot. I came in from Jazz and said, "I haven't done my self-portrait for today." And he right away popped out with this idea. I have no idea what I'll do today. Tomorrow is upside-down day in the group.

Wine Notes: Orleans Hill Cote Zero

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

This wine definitely rated a big fat ZERO. In fact, below zero. I've never just poured out an entire bottle before. It was simply nasty. I probably should have taken it back to the store. Maybe there was just a bad batch or something.

When I pulled the cork, there were all these crystals on the bottom of it. The wine itself was pale and sickly looking. Holding the bottle up to the light, I could see sediment.

Sulfite Free. Organic, California Red Wine. 2006.

m-m-m These Dreams...

I've been having some pretty vivid dreams these past few months. For most of my life I haven't really remembered many dreams. But in the past several months I've had several that are very memorable. Probably because, for the most part, they've been about mundane things.

I dreamed once about pouring coffee into a cup. After the cup filled I just kept pouring. I was looking right at what I was doing. I was pouring from my little 4-cup pot and the pot never emptied. The cup filled and overflowed and the coffee just kept coming from the pot.

I dreamed about making scrambled eggs for my friend Rena.

But the really interesting one was yesterday morning. I dreamed we had a white armadillo living under our couch. I don't know how I knew it was even an armadillo. All I saw in the dream was a flash of tail. The dream centered around the fact that he got out into the main part of the living room and bonus room and pooped all over. Yup. The dream was about me having to clean up armadillo poop.

Off I Go a-Rovering

It's 5:58 a.m. and I'm off to my three precincts to see how they are doing with their machines. I should be done at all three by 7 when the polls open. Then, it's just a lot of a waiting around, waiting for a problem. But there won't be one. Once everyone is up, the machines just click right along. We are well-prepared and the machines have been properly set up.

Intense boredom will set in around 10 a.m. and last through 7 p.m. tonight. I have books and movies and my cameras to entertain me. One of the polling places is in an historic Presbyterian church near here. They have a very picturesque cemetery, so I hope to take some shots in there. We are expecting 1-3 inches of snow throughout the day, so that could make photos even more fun.

A Snowy Day

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Our first snow of the year. Schools were delayed 2 hours this morning. I don't know how much we got. But as I was drinking my coffee this morning the editor called asking me to go out in the cold, wet snow and take photos. This bird one does not show much snow. I took it on my friend's backyard deck.

I took this one as I walked to the back steps of their deck.

Don't Be Deceived

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Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I know you are looking at this and thinking, "Oh My! What a perfect little brain! I wonder what animal this is from?"

But if you look very very closely, you'll see that it is actually a model that Taylor sculpted from Hershey Kiss wrappers.

Yup.