Treat it like a hobby

2011-06-09T16:25:00.002-05:00

Oh my, how I miss being this age.

And, the guitar player is pretty good too ...

Songs about rain ...

2011-05-19T18:11:00.000-05:00

Artist Album Title The Cult Rare Cult [1] (Here Comes the) Rain Checkfield Distant Thunder After the Rain Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow All Night Long Queensryche Empire Another Rainy Night (Without You) The Cult Ceremony Bangkok Rain Steve Vai The 7th Song Boston Rain Melody Steve Vai Alive In An Ultra World (CD 1) Burning Rain (Japan) Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Can't Happen Here Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Can't Let You Go Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Catch the Rainbow Gov't Mule Deep End Vol 2 Bonus CD Drivin Rain Chris Duarte and Bluestone Co. HoB Backporch Electric Rainbow Led Zeppelin In Through The Out Door Fool In The Rain Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Gates of Babylon Pink I'm Not Dead I Have Seen The Rain (Featuring James T. Moore) Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow I Surrender Supertramp Classics, Vol. 9 It's Raining Again Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Jealous Lover Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Kill the King Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Long Live Rock 'N' Roll Tal Bachman Tal Bachman Looks Like Rain Grateful Dead Without a Net (Disc 2) Looks Like Rain Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Man on the Silver Mountain Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik Naked In The Rain Blind Melon Blind Melon No Rain Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion November Rain Garbage Garbage Only Happy When It Rains Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Power Eric Johnson Alien Love Child - Live and Beyond Rain Audiovent Dirty Sexy Knights In Paris Rain The Cult - Love (Remastered) Love (Remastered) Rain Concrete Blonde Mexican Moon Rain Breaking Benjamin We are not Alone Rain Lynch Mob Wicked Sensation Rain Breaking Benjamin We are not Alone Rain (2005 Version) Counting Crows August And Everything After Rain King Mudvayne Lost And Found Rain. Sun. Gone. Smashing Pumpkins MACHINA ! The Machines of God Raindrops + Sunshowers Counting Crows August And Everything After Raining In Baltimore Guster Lost And Gone Forever Rainy Day Porcupine Tree Stars Die: The Delerium Years '91-97 Rainy Taxi The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan Red Rain Grant McLennan Fireboy Riddle In The Rain Collective Soul Collective Soul She Gathers Rain Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Since You Been Gone Jeff Beck Emotion & Commotion Somewhere Over The Rainbow Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Stargazer Dream Theater Black Clouds & Silver Linings-Special ed Stargazer [*] Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Starstruck Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Stone Cold Rainbow The Very Best Of Rainbow Street of Dreams King's X Dogman Sunshine Rain Joe Satriani The Extremist Tears In The Rain Led Zeppelin Houses Of The Holy The Rain Song

More oil, or peak oil?

2011-02-17T08:52:00.000-05:00

Don't ask me. I don't know.

But ...

There's hope, for a change.

Coffee with ground cinnamon

2011-02-17T07:28:00.004-05:00

Once upon a time, I saw the idea that allowed Really Good Coffee to be brewed from reasonable beans, by adding ground cinnamon to the grounds. Since I like Really Good Coffee, and I drink a pot of it every day, this struck home as a thing to do.

The hardware: A standard Mr. Coffee drip pot. Someday, maybe, I'll write about all the coffee pots and brewing methods I've tried. For now, for me, I've settled on a $20 maker from WalMart. It uses the 10000 for a dollar filters. Along with the coffee pot story, I'll write about filters too. Maybe, but not now.

There's also a grinder for the beans, a Mr. Coffee coffee grinder, stock off the shelf from Target. There are at least 4 of them associated with my life / friends / family, and it just works.

The coffee: Sam's Club sells whole beans in multi-pound bags. My choice is Columbian Supremo, a medium roast, dark, rather oily bean. I've tried a lot of coffee beans too, and probably my favorite is from Kona, at only 5x the cost of these. Other 2x and 3x variants are available locally, but I just can't see spending up.

The cinnamon: My favorite place to buy spices is The Spice House. My favorite cinnamons are 'Saigon' and Indonesian. Highly, highly recommended. I have used retail ground cinnamon (just, don't. Take my word for it), and Sam's Club Cinnamon Sticks, which actually cost more than the stuff from The Spice House (!!) and are nowhere close to as good. Not in the same Universe.

The process: Clean and prep the coffee pot. Put cinnamon pieces in the bottom of the filter. Put cinnamon pieces and coffee beans in the grinder. Grind. Dump grind into filter, put water ito the system, hit the happy button and wait. Coffee happens. Pour into my big cappuccino cup, add Fresh Heavy Cream, and it's just magic.

The things I do wrong: Put too many beans in the grinder, and some won't grind. Wasted beans. Put too many grounds in the pot, and the filter will overflow, putting solids in your brew, and an interesting cleaning problem in your future. Carelessly put stick cinnamon in the grinder, and it will jam the blade. Do that enough, and you'll need a new grinder. Put too much cinnamon into the filter, or into the grinder, and you'll have coffee flavored cinnamon tea. Which is interesting, but not what I have in mind.

My favorite uncontrolled variable is how finely the cinnamon grinds with the beans. Believe me, it varies. If it grinds finely enough, it will plug the paper filter, causing the overflow above.

But, most times it works just perfectly. The results are incredible. Stop over, I'll pour you a cup.

Turduckin has nothing on this

2011-02-02T17:04:00.001-05:00

stolen shamelessly from The Belmont Club comments ...

the answer is traditional ME foods like the Bedouin wedding feasts:

The largest item on any menu in the world is probably the roast camel, sometimes served at Bedouin wedding feasts. The camel is stuffed with a sheep’s carcass, which is stuffed with chickens, which are stuffed with fish, which are stuffed with eggs.

Sure it’s not Colonel Sanders but it is THEIR food…..don’t believe it..look it up.

Camel sheep chicken fish eggs

Events in Egypt

2011-01-30T12:18:00.002-05:00

I know nothing more than what is on twitter, the MSM being mostly useless, except for selling soap. My thoughts:

The people in Egypt deserve a better govt than they have. No question. That they get one, is a good question.

USA policy has always been Strong Man versus Islamist. No one knows if this will turn out to have been correct.

The Suez Canal is being watched by hot money world wide. It closes, crude hits $150, gas $5, faster than you would imagine. Saudi Arabia is THE key country.

The USA markets were looking for a reason to sell off at 1300 SPX. Egypt wasn't 'the reason', just contemporaneous.

Markets will be spastic this week. Robots, and they're trading mostly, HATE uncertainty. Upsets their algo stomach.

Good luck.

Thanks Eli

2011-01-27T12:45:00.001-05:00

This showed up in the twitter stream ...

Just talking about it helps. http://bit.ly/gEDIxj #FT71

I read it, and I liked what it said.

Thanks Eli.

At last, the counter top of my dreams

2008-01-21T20:52:00.000-05:00

It's what we wanted when we built the house, but ...

The pictures and captions are here ...

We got it now.

Regards,

rr

we've got pictures

2007-12-29T22:01:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the gracious folks at Google, I've got pictures up on the www at

http://picasaweb.google.com/richruscio

Go look ...

rr

Saturday Departure and Arrival

2007-11-29T21:51:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, we had to leave Erin and Aaron's home, and begin to make our way home. We'd had a wonderful time, and it was sad to leave. Facing a 5 hour drive didn't help.

But, getting to South Bend was good. Yuppie looking college town. Apparently, there's some famous schools there. ND everywhere.

Anyhow, MP knew we were going here, but didn't know why.

First stop, The Chocolate Cafe, retail outlet for the South Bend Chocolate Company. Find out more here ...http://www.sbchocolate.com/

Next stop, the bed and breakfast.

http://www.cushingmanorinn.com/index.htm

We stayed in the Cushing Suite, and I got most of the 'specials' - chocolate covered strawberries, wine, cheese and fruit, and dinner at Tippecanoe Place Restaurant - in a 40 room mansion ... http://www.tippe.com/

Pictures here ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/richruscio/ToSouthBendAndTheCushingInn

The next morning, a lovely breakfast, and an 8 hour car trip. Great weather, and we were home by 6pm.

And, I was tired.

It was a wonderful holiday.

Hugs all,

rr

Black Friday

2007-11-29T21:33:00.000-05:00

On Black Friday, Erin had to work at JoAnnes from 7am until 3:30 pm. My private plan was to get to the I-80 Truck Stop - The World's Largest !!! for a kind of early breakfast, then to the Machine Shed for a meat lunch (no Aaron ...) then to get Erin and then dinner some how.

Didn't work out that way. Except for Erin, we slept in until about 10:30 or so. Then, off to the Truck Stop for a late breakfast, early lunch.

When the waitress was bringing out food out, it looked to me like she was carrying a meringue pie. Turns out that, in addition to the 2 eggs over easy, hash browns and 4 pieces of heavily buttered toast, my Chicken Fried Steak came buried under about, oh, 2-3 cups of pork sausage gravy. Well, I ate it all, except for about 1.5-2 cups of the gravy. Figured I'd skip the extra few thousand calories.

The shopping at the Truck Stop was excellent. The distances around it are huge, and the later tour of Davenport was great.

Pictures ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/richruscio/AQuickTourOfDavenportIA

It was fun. Aaron treated us well.

And, everyone of these photos has a story ...

rr

Thanksgiving Day, 2007

2007-11-28T22:32:00.000-05:00

We all had a wonderful time ...

.
http://picasaweb.google.com/richruscio/ThanksgivingDay2007
.
rr

A Night at Beer Belly's

2007-11-28T21:11:00.000-05:00

We started on Tuesday afternoon, got to Westlake at 9, and found a great steakhouse before sleep. Cabin Club Steakhouse, 30651 Detroit Rd, Cleveland OH, 44145-1833 .

We drove 550 miles, Westlake OH, to Davenport IA, rested, and spent the evening at Beer Belly's in Aledo. The map ...

Here's the pictures I took ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/richruscio/W900AtBeerBellyS

And, no, I'm not going to talk about getting lost, or stopped by the cops, or how that went ...

after a long time away ...

2007-11-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

Been busy. Lots of stuff this summer and fall. Most great, some painful, some nearly lethal.

But, photos seem to cause words, so here I go ...

http://picasaweb.google.com/richruscio/DogsAndLeaves

rr

chumby ...

2007-11-11T17:40:00.001-05:00

And, I like mine ...

rr

How I hurt my right knee ...

2007-08-06T18:39:00.001-05:00

Under a rock, or not living my life ...

2007-07-28T20:20:00.000-05:00

For those of you who aren't me, here's a brief rundown of this year's July ...

Erin (my kid) and Pat and Bill (my sister and BIL) arrived, had fun, and returned to their homes.

I got a new computer to run Windows Home Server (beta 2) on, and have been struggling to make the networky stuff work.

I have a new digital camera - Canon SD1000. Awesome stuff to follow, eventually.

We spent a week on the Cape with Dan and Liz Kinsella. Much fun, and stuff to write about, later.

My lump sum payout from EK's pemnsion plan showed up., Need to deal with that.

As did two shorts / techincal shorts / new BG meter / assorted supplements / books / computer stuff / email / mail / ... been along week.

Let's see some pic's ...

A miracle happened to me ...

2007-07-28T19:07:00.001-05:00

Erin and I wanted to ride bikes. She needed to fly a thousand miles or so, and I needed to loan a bike and a do-rag.

There's an old hardware store in Brockport where the BFA kids shopped for good stuff. We went there, on bikes, to get shelving paper ... you can see it wrapped on the road bike top tube.

Having both bikes in the same picture proves at least two bikes and people were involved.

Welcome to Java Junction ...

You've seen this scene before.

I never had both my bikes here at the same time.

Here's what it was: Erin flew here to visit for a longish while, and we rode bikes to Brockport, to go the the coffee shop and to her hardware store for goodies. In addition to those miracles, my kid rode my mountain bike, while I rode my road bike.

Riding my bikes is special to me, especially on the Canal Path. It's beautiful, peaceful, and my LBS (local bike shop) is a part of my medical care support team.

To have Erin with me, sharing my stuff, and places, and time, is just a miracle.

So happy ...

rr

Supposedly, there's a lake North of here ...

2007-07-01T15:01:00.001-05:00

I've tried 3 times to get to Lake Ontario from my house, on my shiny but not so new road bike.
First time, bridge out over a creek (50 foot span, so don't assume I didn't try to walk thru it ...).

Second time, wrong turn, and wound up in a park / wildlife maintenance area, and while it was nice, wasn't where I wanted to be.

Third time's the charm - that's my Bike, the road bumper at the end of East Manitou Roda at Edgemere, some unclaimed public land before the rocks, and then, The Lake.

This shot from Google Earth shows you where I was.

E Manitou Road ends here, which is just about where Edgemere Drive starts.

I rode north on 259 to Hilton, turned West onto East Avenue, which turns into Wilder Road, which turns into Frisbee Hill Rd. Turned North onto E Manitou Rd, and followed it to the Lake.

The pushpin is at the end of a 30 yard dead end extension, ended in a road bumper. A few yards of un-owned beach, rocks, and water ...

Just stuff I saw while there. There's a house on each side of the dead end extension, and they've got really nice places to play ...

But, I made it. The trip was 27.34 miles, but I did some sightseeing at Town on Parma Park, so not all in flight to the Lake.

rr

OK, so I'm in the mood ...

2007-06-27T20:07:00.001-05:00

I've been out and about with my camera phone, and was coming to the conclusion that it didn't take such great pictures. Yeah, old news to techy types, but rather disappointing to me.

So, I thought I'd do an experiment. I'd stage a scene, something trivial. that I could shoot a few times, and f$%& with the camera between shots. One image, one Tullamore Dew. See how the series came out.

First picture, "The Scene" ... On the desk in my office at home, early afternoon sun just coming into the windows, illuminating one of my 2 Cateye bike computers, an empty box of test strips (prescription needed refilling), and of course, one of my favorite things, a book, about writing formula and functions in Excel 2007,.

That's for automating my own pension plan, but that's another story. None of us can wait for that to happen ...

Second image, "The Scene, take 2" ... Oddly enough, it's the same scene (about 2 minutes later), but this time, the camera phone lens has been subjected to an attack with a Q-tip. Plain, old, ordinary - the kind I buy in lots of 1000 because I've got 3 daughters and a wife who apparently consume these things like methadone thru an inner city clinic ... but, I digress.

A little more clarity, less haze, a bit sharper ... better, but not too great.

And, that's when I turn to alcohol.

As some of you may have noticed, I tend to play with computer hardware. Pretty strange, all things considered (like, I wrote a directory / file walker so I could send Erin a text file of all of my mp3 collection by artist / album / song). Software geek. I sent her the code too, C# for God's sake, just to show off (Visual Studio wouldn't fit in an email). Anyhow, I've removed and inserted my CPU into my socket more times than ... well, all of the analogies are obvious. The CPU needs cleaning during each operation (thermal paste, you know), and to do that, you need Q-tips (how fortunate), and Alcohol - isoPropyl type, stock drug store $1/qt stuff. Wetting a Q-tip from a quart bottle is a bad idea. After having done that, and lots of other variations on the theme, I FINALLY found a travel sized drop bottle - 5 ounces, in kind of a sport bottle cap configuration, in which I poured about 2 ounces of alcohol. Works better a drop at a time. It's been sitting on my desk forever, and now ...

I wet a fresh Q-tip, and cleaned the lens again, and got scene #3 ...

By the way, if you cannot tell the difference, well, thanks for playing. Have a nice day ...

So, I've got a bunch more images - some good, some less good - with stories to tell. Hopefully, the images will be better in the future.

Hugs,

rr

Wet dog syndrome ...♦

2007-06-27T19:53:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, Farley was just a puppy, with REALLY long hair, that grew, and grows, at a phenomenal rate. Needing water, we gave him a bowl, and discovered that a significant amount of his facial hair wound up getting wet. If you think wet dog hair smells bad, I suggest you get over it by sniffing a wet Shitzu's snout after it's been soaked in water a few times. Ambrosia versus skunk poop, kind of compare.

Being the engineer / deck screw / pressure treated lumber kind of guy I am, I hit upon two ideas. One: Have the dog drink from a hanging bottle, the kind that rabbits / hamsters use. Two: Build a floor standing mount for the bottle, consisting of a wire grid (that stuff you build shelves out of), and some pressure treated lumber for a frame.

If you've been in our house, you've seen this thing. Free to build (well, except for the parts, tools, scrap, projects it was made from ...), and fun to do with a table saw.

Alex has a new dog, Franky, a very pure bred Boston Terrier. He needed a stand to drink from, for his Breeder Recommended water bottle. Parts is parts, tools and screws are much in abundance, and Maripat found the grid piece someplace.

Built it, Alex took it back to her place, and apparently, the dog loves it. She said, and I believe.

Life is good, sometimes. Most times, actually, but I don't have enough time to write about it ...

Hugs,

rr

The pile of rocks in the front ...

2007-06-03T13:10:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, we had a new house built, and we collected almost all the big rocks into a pile out front, under the big Maple tree. We figured that, someday soon, we'd use them in some clever landscaping kind of way.

Time passed, and other things happened. A lot of time passed. Like, 13 - 14 years or so passed. And, we still had a pile of rocks in front of our house.

We've got a lot of landscaping stuff around the house. The front was professionally landscaped. Our backyard has a pool, decks, stone path, large mulched area, large flower boxes (5 of them) and other stuff. It needed maintenance work. So, I asked the guy who plows my driveway, who happens to do landscape maintenance and construction, to come over and give me a quote on some work. Both the maintenance and the pile of rocks under the tree ...

I accepted his offered quote, and soon ... more rocks showed up under the tree.

Eventually, after a bit of work, and more (and fewer) rocks under the tree, it was done

From the front steps:

From the lawn towards the street:

A close up of one of the rocks we acquired - the picture doesn't do it justice. Yes, I need a new camera, but, you really need to see this thing up close. Great landscaping rock.

Anyhow, I've done my biking for the day (17+ miles, coffee in Brockport), installed Alex' air conditioner in her apartment, and now, need to attend to the bills / accounts of Ruscio Inc.

Hugs,

rr

One Fine Spring Morning

2007-05-26T15:59:00.001-05:00

The intersection of nice weather, free time, and the energy to do anything with them, has been a pretty small Venn space in my life recently.

Throw in the detail that I just got another bike (a road bike, no less), and you begin to feel kind of sorry for my mountain bike. Poor thing, hardly gets out much any more.

So, today, I took my old and faithful ride to the coffee shop in Brockport. The picture that you see here is taken from my seat on the chairs in front of that establishment, Java Junction.

Said place is where I got a bumper sticker saying "Friends don't let friends drink Starbucks."

Anyhow, the ride: It was great. middle / upper 50's, light WNW wind, blue sky to dream about, lots of people on the canal path, boats, everything growing green and lively. It was just nice.

And, for those of you keeping score, here's the Mountain bike log for 2007 ...

	start	end	miles	latest	time	#trips
2007	1201.2	1219.2	18.0	3/30/2007	1.22.33	1	1.38	13.1
2007	1219.2	1237.1	17.9	4/28/2007	1.31.31	2	1.53	11.7
2007	1237.1	1254.2	17.1	5/26/2007	1.14.07	3	1.24	13.8

13.8 mph is my highest average speed trip ever. When I ride, I pay attention to my cadence - rotations of the pedals per minute. For me, slow and lazy is under 70, my normal pace is 75-77, and I really want to get it into the low 80's. On the way out, into the wind, in my usual gear, I was in the 75-80 range. On the way back, with the wind, and with a no-fat 2 shot latte in me, I couldn't keep the cadence lower than 85-90, so I made the gearing harder, dropped down to 80 or so, and went a lot faster.

At least, I thought so.

It was good.

Bye,

rr

2007-05-24T20:18:00.000-05:00

I haven't written anything for a long time. Not because there's nothing to write, but because life gets hectic, and I just let some things go. I'm not even sure what's been so hectic, really.

My 22+ years with Kodak ended, and now I work for Carestream Health, Inc., a wholly owned holding of a big Canadian private equity company. Separation and rejoining are a pain in the paperwork.

The bike arrived, and is working great. I haven't been on a bike, though, in more than 2 weeks. Too much stuff to do on weekends, weather doesn't exactly cooperate, and I'm too whipped to ride after work. Hell, I haven't even taken any pictures of it yet.

Still can play racquetball 2x per week, though. After work.

This week, Gigo went to Heaven. I'm sure he's better off with other Angels. Hopefully, it'll hurt less for us over time. It still makes me cry to write this.

So, anyway, I thought of another way to motivate me to write. Whenever I see anything of interest, I'll get a picture, and post it, and just write around it. Maybe that'll get me more posts.

The picture above if from Bldg. 81, part of the Kodak Research Labs (where I'm now a tennant), out the 7th floor windows, facing north. Lake Avenue, not visible in the picture, is just off to the left. Drop dead beautiful view and day today, and the camera phone picture doesn't do it justice.

Hugs,

rr

for a free t-shirt ...

2007-04-01T10:21:00.000-05:00

OK, so I don't really need another t-shirt, free or not.

But, I was looking anyway, because if I spend $15, I get the shirt.

And, I cam across this, and thought you'd find it interesting. So, I share ...

http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/gear/86dd/

Hugs,

rr

a news dump

2007-03-25T19:34:00.000-05:00

I haven't written anything for a while, and I've regretted it. There's just something that appeals to me about putting things in writing. I'm old enough, now, so that I'm going to indulge myself. Perhaps writing is therapeutic. Perhaps not. Perhaps I'm angry, ignorant and apathetic. Fick it, I don't know and I don't care.

Anyhow ...

Erin wrote about springtime in Iowa ...http://knitordie.blogspot.com/2007/03/climbing.html

Don't know if that was before or after the two hours on the phone to here today. I was good to hear her talk to Danielle and Mom. And that she got the list/text file of music from me.

Alex seems to have a new guy, which is a good thing. We're not allowed to meet him yet, but soon I hope. I could use paying for a nice dinner (hint, hint ...).

The car registration / insurance change went off without a hitch. Easy and so far, flawless.

Gigi is getting better all the time, off the liver drug, down to a theraputic dose of anti-seizure medicine She / he were here todfay, and the dog seems livelier than ever. Like, a dog. Yeah!!!!

Danielle has issues with school, and you can ask her about them. She spent the first three days this week with swollen glands, no diagnosis, and a lot of sleep. Seems over it, and now, back to that school thing ...

Maripat is Maripat. She can write here if she chooses, just so long as we stay madly in love.

Me ... Got my job offer from Carestream Health, the think the Health Group will be called after Kodak sells it. I'll read the paperwork later ... this week.

The Town of Odgen / Village of Spencerport has sewage issues, and needs an easement from us to deal with it. I accept the $3500 they'll give us, to drill under - that's UNDER - the back edge of the swamp behind the house.

I get my last EK Wage Dividend next Thursday. And, I'll get paid 3 times in May. Yeah !!!

The road bike is on order, available 'in April'. Road rage the way God intended it.

Dr. appt tomorrow for my diet pills, accountant - Joe Nacca - on Tuesday for taxes. On and on it goes.

Hugs and kisses,

rr

Cars, cars, cars ...

2007-03-14T17:14:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, Alex bought a new Scion TC1, got her first car loan, and has been getting Capitol One offers ever since. There are three chunks of documentation with a car her in TaxLand:
- Title
- Registration
- Insurance

Here's where we are. Title: Alex. Registration: me. Insurance: Both.

WTF??? Both?

There was an unfortunate mishap in our garage involving a Nissan Altima and a Nissan Xterra. Which, naturally upon renewal, caused Alex's insurance to skyrocket. Well, can't have that.

Here's what we thought. Title: Alex. Registration: Alex. Insurance: me.

So, Alex hit the WWW, and switched to GEICO. Now, how to get her off my policy? Easy - provide proof of insurance. GEICO sends paperwork, I run the scanner, and a few hours later, email arrives at Liberty Mutual.

"Great. Thanks. I'll take her off your policy."

A few hours later: "Hey, we can't take her off until you show the plates have been surrendered."
Me, monentarily after: "The car is registered to Alex. Always has been. Scouts honor."
Me, monents later to Alex: "Is the car registered in your name?" Her, moments later:"Yes, I think so". "Well, next time you're in the car, check and call me back".

Them the next day: "There's a note in your file about registering it in your name for your insurance policy to cover it."
Time passes. Alex calls. It's registered in my name.

Tell my new-found email correspondent at Liberty Mutual: "Whoops - we're stupid ..."
Them to me: "Surrender the plates, read/fax/copy/email the green slip (reciept for the plates) and we'll take her off the policy."

Sweet. Two insurance coverages being paid for, but hey ... it's just paperwork, right?

Off I go to http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/regtransfer.htm

Sweet. I'll give a gift to the first person who figures out how to change the details of the registration. Unless it's Alex, who has to do it at the DMV the hard way. Then, dinner at Aja's.

What a day ...

rr

Puppies!!!

2007-03-10T22:09:00.000-05:00

Today was the Red Cross Family Health and Safety Fair at North Park Mall. It was mobbed. Completely nuts. It was like every single family in the QCA with kids heard "FREE STUFF" and came out to collect pencils and coloring books and hug men in animal costumes. Aaron did a shift teaching kids about fire safety. As luck would have it, the State Farm table was right alongside the Quad Cities Animal Shelter's, where they had a litter of 8 week old Jack Russell-Rat Terrier puppies. They were so cute you could die. He took this picture with his phone and it does not do them justice. Adoption fee is only 85 dollars. He wants one of the brown ones. But I don't think the time is right for us to get a puppy. And I don't know if a famously spastic terrier is the right dog for us anyway. I am partial to beagles and doxies myself. These little guys were pretty damn darn cute though. Looked like little piglets and they seemed very sweet and even-tempered. All girls except for the chubbiest black one is a boy. Y'all like dogs. Enjoy : )

i think my dogs taking over my life....

2007-03-06T21:26:00.000-05:00

all is very well with little mr gigo. so far at least. its like i have a dog again instead of a weird little baby. hes much much more normal than hes been in a very very long time. gets soooo crazy when hes playing. which is adorable by the way. also is much more strong willed and less passive than before. which, while a good sign, makes it increasingly difficult to give him the 5x a day dose of meds. but ill take it anyday. seems all bright eyed and curious and sniffs around a lot and reacts more to noises and any other stimulation. so little mama alex is happy so far. he also licks me a lot. which is cute but kinda nasty.
were going to see dr black (his regular vet) tomorrow to discuss the "what now" things. i have a list, because im queer. and really excited about the million dollar dog. ok thousand but whose counting... well besides me.... anyways
i saved hundreds of dollars by switching to geico. (sorry had to. im so cliche) ha well over a grand actually. so thank mini for being a jack ass and causing an accident which cost me $400 a yr. in turn saving me $1200. crazy huh?
i cant wait for nicer weather. this single digit temp. thing is starting to drive me crazyyy. aannnddd i wanna go to iowa to see that sister of mine. well the one that lives there, because i have 2. but u know all that.
so yah im rambling.
well im gonna look up dog stuff on google so im fully prepared to talk to the vet tomorrow.
love you family!!! xoxoxoxooxox

ps. good luck with ur new job missy

good.

2007-03-05T12:56:00.000-05:00

this is my current itunes playlist, i've titled it Moody. and i play it alot.

1. take me anywhere - tegan and sara
2. love hater - outkast
3. sunday - sonic youth
4. scatterbrain - radiohead
5. good as gone - little big town
6. way out - the yeah yeah yeahs
7. amsterdam - coldplay
8. headlights on dark roads - snow patrol
9. apostrohe - doscount
10. heaven forbid - the fray
11. for reasons unknown - the killers
12. for tonight you're only here to know - the distillers
13. not even jail - interpol
14. pressed against the sky - the toadies
15. green eyes - coldplay
16. my favorite things - outkast

i didn't send a copy when i mailed mini's t&s cd because it's pretty much all music you already have access to and seemed redundant. as i keep accidentally deleting my entire itunes library, pickins get slim unless i feel like sitting for hours copying discs to edna, my hard-drive (HINT; I NEVER FEEL LIKE DOING THAT). so yeah anways this is the soundtrack to my house.

i am getting "processed" by the davenport community school system tomorrow at 930am. filling out paperwork and watching some films and the like. wheeee. i expect to start on the 19th of this month.

currently putting off cleaning up the dirrrty kitchen, jonsing for a presspot of coffee but know i should be drinking tea for my throat, and lovingthis kitchen scale. of course it's red, natch.

hope you enjoyed my disgusting gravelly voice on your answering machine, way to call me back.

going to go get the mail (bills i'm sure :/) now, and dodge the pigeon poo that has become an everpresent part of my front stoop.

love, erin.

and so, things settle down a bit

2007-03-04T14:59:00.000-05:00

Gigo and Alex are here, and the dog is as lively as I've ever seen him. So far, so great !!

Erin got hired by the local school system. Can't wait to hear her job description.

Mom and I celebrated Bulk Pickup Day tomorrow by bagging a few cubic yards of stuff. Speaking of which, Erin Dear, what about all that stuff in the basement / green storage tubs / window seat in your bedroom?

Danielle's still cute, too.

Mind is going,

rr

hes home!!

2007-03-02T19:35:00.000-05:00

yay my doggys here. seems a little funny. probably just had too much going on in his lil life. hes on 3 drugs and special food. its a little crazy... but hes home. so im happy.

2007-03-02T11:28:00.001-05:00

Alex saw Gigo last night, and spoke with a Dr. this morning. All good news.

No seizures since the 2am one a few days ago, so if that continues, Alex will take Gigo home after she gets out of work at 6 or so.

The dog is on 2 drugs he needs to be weaned from over the next week. He'll be on the 'liver diet' and the anticonvulsant medication.

She'll call with news tonight. Remind me to silence my cell phone at the movies.

Today's news from Alex

2007-03-01T10:18:00.000-05:00

Alex went to visit Gigo last night, and made him very happy.

She spoke to the Dr. this morning. Gigo had his longest stretch without a seizure, from yesterday at 2pm to today at 2am, and hadn't had one since. His release criteria is 24 hours straight without one.

He's been on the liver diet since he got there, and on the anti-convulsant since yesterday evening.

Alex will go visit him again tonight after work. We're hoping he'll be released Friday.

The waiting is the hardest part.

i miss my doggy

2007-03-01T00:34:00.000-05:00

no real news that dad didnt post. i went to visit the baby today and bring the zonisamide to them. he was cute and licked me a lot. seemed really curious to all the weird noises he doesnt hear in his life at home. then he just kinda nuzzled and slept pressed up against my face. and he had a little velcro kinda sock thing on his arm to hold the hook up thingy for his iv. it had giraffes and looked like some kinda baby clothes or somethin. i talked to the er dr(dr kirk) whose kinda cute in a weird nerdy way. and expressed my concerns to him about the aparent correspondence in the diet change and serious onset of seizures. he said he would relay the info to dr wilder whom i have never met but seems to be dealing with the majority of this. he in turn talks to dr dewey who is a neurologist at cornell. who i found out by looking on the web has done what appears to be much of the work establishing zonasimide as a reputable anti convulsant in dogs. gigos seizures have seemed to improve from monday night into tuesday until now. i guess overnight the night i brought him there he had 3-4 more. today he had one at 8am and another at 2pm. i left there at 845 hoping he wouldnt have anymore overnight. he'll have to stay for at least another 24hrs from when i left so hopefully he can come home tomorrow night. but if hes still having multiple seizures everyday then who knows. dr wilder said it costs about 100-150 dollars a day to keep him there on the occasional valium booster. so now im home wasting time tyring to keep my mind busy until im tired enough to go to bed. which will be soon. thanks for the support family. i love you guys all very much.

Today's Gigo News So Far ...

2007-02-28T12:09:00.000-05:00

I spoke to Alex more than an hour ago, and then work got in my way. Just happened again.

Gigo had a difficult night. He's probably had 10 or so seizures in the past few days. Alex said he 24Hr place gives him a shot of vallium when it happens, and that helps.

In yet another 'drive by' consult imparting information, a Dr. recounted that the sysptoms seem like epilepsy, and that Dr. has seen cases where, in small animals with this condition, that their blood work takes shortly after a seizure comes back with 'liver issues'.

The frustration on resolving this is starting to take it's toll. The 24Hr place isn't an inexpensive hotel, Gigo isn't getting treated just comforted, and we've been around all of the prognosis twice now. Alex is determined to force a course of treatment.

The 24Hr place Dr will provide Gigo with anti-convulsant medication, but wants to use a drug for people, not small dogs, becasue the side effects are thought to be less. Well, people weight 10's or pounds, not 1's or pounds, so the medication needs to be formulated. The Dr is calling about to see what's what with that.

In the time it took me to get this far into the typing, Alex called me again. The medication is available later today in a pharmacy in Canadagua. If they ship it, it'll get here Friday. I volunteered to go get it whenever. Pharmacy needs to contact Alex with pickup time and location, and directions and a phone number, which she'll relay along to me, and off I'll go.

More later.

thats G-I-G-O hahahah

2007-02-27T20:43:00.000-05:00

i miss my doggy. its lonely here at 332 with out him. buttt hes in good hands and hopefully some dr will figure out how to fix him. boo. thanks every one for caring about the 4 lb loveyy a much as his mama ahahahahha im on the phone with erin right now. shes silly. ok ill keep ya posted. love you familyyyy

More about Giggio

2007-02-27T13:19:00.000-05:00

Blood work came back, with elevated "liver issues" measurement. Not clear to me exactly what's being measured, but hey ...

So, the dog will go on the liver patient's diet, along with an ammonia blocker, and see how he does.

Alex and my working theory is that the attempts to fatten up the dog pushed him into slow overload, until he went off the seizure cliff.

It's always about food for us. We have issues ...

Anyway, they'll start him on that today, keep him overnight again, and if all's well, she can take him home tomorrow.

This is better than the neurological alternative, we think.

rr

Little did I know

2007-02-27T10:45:00.000-05:00

It was more of a day than I thought. Alex' dog had more seizures last night, and she brought him to the 24 Hr Vet. Here's what she told me this morning, and that I emailed to Mom ...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Just got off the phone with Alex. She sounds a lot better than she did last night.

The dog was comfortable most of the night, but did have a 'witnessed' seizure while he was there. So now, someone other than Alex and her friends have seen it. Small, cold comfort.

Medical records have been exchanged among Cornell, the 24Hr place, and Dr. Black. The consensus remains that it's a neurological condition, not one caused by liver toxicity. More blood work being done to check for bile acids (liver issue).

After the blood work completes, if there's no hard proof of liver issues, the dog will start on anti-convulsants.

Alex will call me when there's more news.

We apparently did something right raising her. She's doing so well for her dog. Makes me proud.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

rr

It's been quite the day

2007-02-26T18:42:00.000-05:00

The weather forecast was nothing special, really, but I'd bet we got 6-8 inches of snow in the last 24 hours. Real world, I'd be trapped here for weeks. This world, no one notices snow. Greenville, SC ...

Darlin' Danielle not only got to sleep in a hotel room in Philadelphia, she got driven home from there. US Airways would have had them home tomorrow, or so, maybe. But, she's here, and that's goodness.

I took my problem with Excel up the Customer Support email pipe with Microsoft. A nice lady, I think, with a lovely, if somewhat heavy, Asian Indian (I think) accent called me to chat. I sent her email with my 13 year supply of blood glucose numbers in a buggy freaking excel file. I can only imagine how difficult her job is, because if it's tough for me to understand her when she's trying, it must be really hard for her to understand me, when I'm pissed :-)

Oh, yes, and work still sux ... It's a good thing they pay me. Wesley declined to bet on which one of us would get whacked first. Methinks he's losing his nerve.

Thank God 24's on tonight to calm me down.

rr

Outing.

2007-02-26T15:02:00.000-05:00

I've been discovered. Oh dear.

I had a job interview this morning, please cross your fingers for me.

Aaron painted our bedroom yesterday (it's BROWN it's called MUDSLIDE it looks fabulous but needs one more coat) and I think we're both suffering from some latex paint fume poisoning. WHEE.

Have a good day, Ruscios. Is Mini Elizabeth the Rockstar home yet?

props to Erin

2007-02-25T22:32:00.000-05:00

Love ya' Sweetie ... Knit this ...

http://knitordie.blogspot.com/

rr

I think 'global warming' is a power grabbing fraud.

2007-02-25T19:30:00.000-05:00

Fortunately, I'm not alone. Unfortunately, I'm insufficiently accompanied.

Almer Gortree [Mark Steyn]

The Reverend Al wowed the faithful in Toronto according to this report “Eco-pilgrims Gather To ‘Heed The Goracle’”:

"From my perspective, it is a form of religion," said Bruce Crofts, 69, as he held a banner aloft for the East Toronto Climate Action Group amid a lively pre-lecture crowd outside the old hall. "The religion for this group is doing something for the environment."

While he no longer espouses traditional religion, Mr. Crofts recalled how, as a Sunday school teacher decades ago, he included Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi and Robert Kennedy as well as Jesus Christ in his lessons, as examples of great leaders who stepped forward when called upon by circumstance. In that sense, he feels Mr. Gore fits the bill.

Almen, brother! Preach the Gorspel! Yet, spiritual leadership-wise, the Reverend Al is perhaps closest to Mohammed in that, like the founder of the Islamic faith, Mohammed al-Gore is both a great prophet and a political leader:

"He's the prime minister we need in Canada," said Reid MacWilliam, who has been re-examining his entire life to make it more environmentally responsible.

At last, an American hegemon the Canadian people are prepared to live under the jackboot of. And Al’s boot leaves quite a footprint. Evangelical Outpost has some interesting statistics on Reverend Al’s forthcoming Gore Aid concert:

* The concert will produce more CO2 in one day than Zimbabwe produced in any month in 2003.
* The concert will produce more CO2 in one day than the total daily fossil fuel emissions for Austria, Chile, Finland, Greece, Iraq, Kuwait, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Sweden, the Virgin Islands, and a dozen other countries combined.
* The concert will produce more CO2 in one day than the entire nation of Afghanistan produces in a year.

We are all pygmies in the awesome depression of his Carbon Footprint! (via Tim Bla ir)

02/25 10:26 AM

She's landborne

2007-02-25T17:32:00.001-05:00

All flights seem to be canceling from Philadelphia, including her's.

No new news yet.

rr

2007-02-25T15:31:00.000-05:00

my dad said i have to play on this bloggggggg thing.
asdkjhsdkjfhskdfhdslfjsldkjfd :)

She's airborne

2007-02-25T14:20:00.000-05:00

Danielle's flight just took off from Miami - 2:13 departure on a 1:40 schedule.

ETA is only 10 minutes later. So far, so good.

rr

hi!

2007-02-25T13:23:00.000-05:00

hey, I did this all by myself! looks like you're actually going to drag me into this twenty-first century technology stuff ( kicking and screaming and dragging my heels and all that! ) I can't believe that you actually created this blog thing at 7:00 in the morning , for crying out loud--no wonder you wanted Dr. Pill-pusher to prescribe amphetamines for you!

Leaking.

2007-02-25T12:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, lovely Davenport IA got it's ass handed to it by the weather. Silly Erin and Aaron decided to go out and about as planned at about 12:30, because despite the warnings, nothing major was going on outside. What's a teeny bit of freezing rain to a Rochesterian and a native Iowan? Meh. So we did our little shopping bit for a couple hours, and it would get really icky for a few, then go back to nothing, A'd scrape the ice off the car, I'd whine about the wind and my hair, same old same. The mall closed at 5 due to the weather, Jo-Ann closed at 6:30, ick ick ick. We got home at 5:15 to no electricity. So we freaked out for a couple hours, in the dark, because our neighbor's tree was all over our roof and you can't make pizza with no power. It came back on at 7:45ish. THANK YOU, MID-AMERICAN ENERGY. Good times. Aaron just mopped up a nice gallon of water from our basement floor. The joys of home ownership never cease!

love, erin.

Welcome to Office 2007

2007-02-25T11:00:00.000-05:00

I attended the Vista / Office 2007 Launch Event in Rochester NY recently. The event itself was awful - too crowded, no wired network, very slow / useless wireless, underpowered computers, crashing demo's, great eye candy (software, anyway), and almost useless swag, EXCEPT for:

1) A ball point pen that glows led red
2) a free copy of Office 2007 Pro (and, Groove 2007, but, who cares?)

Finally got around to installing the stuff. New UI, probably new features, and Excel is S..L..O..W

Yes, slow. Amazingly slow. Lights up both cores on my overly-hot Pentium D Dual Core 3.2GHz 3GB machine slow. Editing a text box on a chart is an exercise in self-controlled SLOW.

Sigh ...

First over here ...

2007-02-25T10:18:00.000-05:00

I've tried to start a blog before, using the Microsoft free stuff. Set it up, and never did anything with it. Hope this time is different.

Erin's post-IA storm, Danielle's in Miami looking at a Philadelphia storm, Alex is here in Rochester where it's nice, sunny. cold and snow covered, and me and she are not looking forward to tomorrow's return to work. Boo hiss.

A random picture ... and punch the publish button.