Stepping up to the plate

Mewanted to share some awesome news, which is like, fourfold.

01. First and most importantly, Aflac is awesomely supportive. I knew this, but it's been recently demonstrated again as I shared some really good news with him (see 04. below).

02. Secondly, my mom is doing very well. I'm very happy about that.

03. Thirdly, we met a few new friends for dinner last night, and I can honestly say that not only was I surprisingly at ease with them, but I feel like I've known them forever. Not in that old familiar comfortable sense, but more like they're kindred spirits. They're intelligent, funny, energetic, talkative, and they love food. (haha!) Time, oh, so little time, though... they, like us, have horridly busy schedules. Aflac likes them, too. Of course he gets along with everyone even more than I do, but he actually had something to say about these folks and it was very positive. I was slightly worried he may not have such a good time because I knew they'd be VERY different from what he was used to. Most of /his/ friends aren't quite, so, uh... energetic! But we all shared at least a few things in common. It's amazing...

04. And finally, I've been promoted at work. I suppose this should have been at the top of my list as it will affect my schedule, pay, and of course lifestyle (because of pay). Dante will get paid off more quickly as will my dentist, which is a very good thing (since I hate debt immensely). I look forward to being able to save again. I very much look forward to the new schedule, which I think means weekends off for the most part, and more evenings with Aflac. But I also feel an immense sense of accomplishment, because in just over a year I've managed to find myself, work on myself professionally, and apparently I've gained a lot of respect at work that I didn't even realize was occurring until the interview I had the other day. Note that I'm much more excited than this entry can possibly indicate. But I'm realistic, too. While I've already been doing a lot of what I will be doing, now I'll have more responsibilities and it'll be tough at times to get used to the new expectations. However, I think my personal endeavor to work for my own standards will continue to provide me with ample assistance in maintaining and - more likely - exceeding these expectations.

Post Synopsis: Life is very good and is certainly what I've made of it. No, I don't control everything, but it is true that my positive and confident outlook has enabled a lot of good things to occur in my life: New friends, awesome boyfriend, promotion. The odd thing is that nothing I desire deep inside seems to take very long to materialize in front of me. Most of the time, I don't even know I want it until the opportunity presents itself.

~nv

Raven update

So far so good. I let things crank themselves up to 61C on-die. No loss of internet connectivity whatsoever. However, the test is incomplete because I forgot to reset the 65C limit in the BIOS for auto shutdown. Doh. So when the die finally spiked up and hit 65C, she shut down. Whups.

However, this went on for a good hour before 65C was reached. I tried a few different things: a/c on fan; a/c on low; a/c on medium; a/c off; a/c off with cover back on Raven. The last is what finally drove the temps up in a half-hour or so. And the moment I removed the cover again, the reboot was flawless.

These are the possible conclusions thus far, keeping in mind that I seldom need to troubleshoot such hardware problems:
01. Power supply was overloaded and is on its way out. Removing a hard drive and a light may have improved its load (temporarily).
02. Hard drive was throwing issues at board.
03. Hard drive was throwing issues at power supply.
03. Light was screwing with the power supply.
04. Video card needed reseating.
05. Video card needed dusting.
06. Issue still exists and simply has not presented itself again.
07. I imagined the whole thing.

My first course of action from this point on is to continue monitoring heat output and wait for the problem to recur. If it does not do it in the next month, I will plug my removable hard drive back in and see what happens. This drive is known to have some weird issues (with XP at least). So if the problem recurs after it is reinstalled, I will suspect it first. However, I still suspect the psu, too, and will not completely overlook it as a possibility. This is a common mistake and I'm not willling to kill Raven just yet by ignoring this.

~nv

Raven's got issues, ugh

Well, I've been having some crashing issues lately, but so far since I blew some dust out of my video card, reseated it, took out the light, and removed one of the hard drives, it's been ok.

This problem has, however, been intermittent. So I've installed SpeedFan and am waiting to see if it crashes. SF is set to email me when the temp hits a certain temp, which it's now doing. I figure I can isolate whether it's caused by overheating if I see it hit an even higher temp shortly before it crashes. This can be partially monitored by the number of emails I get after a consistent high, which should only get higher.

At least, it seems plausible.

The a/c is now shut off as it used to be, and temps are holding steady for now. The chassis temp I'm used to seeing is right around 48C, which was normal until I had these problems. My on-die temp is currently 60. I've seen this at 61C on bootup after a crash but it's occasionally reached 63C already with no online disconnects. Time will tell.

On a side note, I realized that one of my drives is still unhealthy. I remembered that I needed to back things up on that drive, but I forgot that there was a reason. I figured I was being paranoid since the loss of pictures on my other drive last month (which has been since removed in an attempt to correct this new intermittent issue).

At least it's only 80GB, and for now, only contains 1GB of data I /want/. The rest contains o/s, a few programs and blank space. Big whup. And that 1GB is backed up, indeed. :)

Interestingly, while the removable hard drive has had issues for over a year, and this smaller one has had its share of dyingness, I've not had a real problem with either so long as Windows XP keeps its nose out of my business. And more interesting to me is that this supposed hardware problem I'm having now has started since I've become increasingly eager to buy myself a Mac. I thought Selene was the only jealous one. (She's always started acting up when I start looking at new computers.)

Okay, getting lots of beeps, I'm anticipating some internet failure soon. Time will tell. I'm going off to shower.

~nv

Ryobi!

This post is about Ryobi, a new brand I found through a friend at work. He loaned me his Tuff Sucker P710, an 18 volt handheld cordless wet/dry vacuum.

Aflac wasn't impressed this morning as I vacuumed a few things in the livingroom, but I think I am. Not that I have much experience with vacuums, but I do know that this little bugger picks up at /least/ as well as my cheap little upright (which I admit isn't great, but then, what vacuum really is). The thing is, my upright is corded and seems it should have more power. This thing is battery-operated.

And, I had *no* idea that my playpen had so much cat hair in it. For a room where the cat supposedly doesn't ever tread, it could easily provide a full month's worth of stair-sweeping. And it wasn't that long ago that I used the cheap upright to go over the carpet. I don't remember this much cat hair in ITS filter. I'd say the handheld is more powerful for that reason alone.

As for what I want it to do, it does that, too, particularly when the filter is clean of cat hair (doesn't take long for it not to be though). Seeds, kibble, and hammie-poop all disappear with relevant ease. Emptying the dirt-cup is easy enough, picking cat-hair and dust off the filter is a bit less fun. However, it's a small little thing so I don't mind it too much. Plus, it rinses easily of any dust that won't come off with the hair. Not that bad, really.

My friend demonstrated last night for a few minutes. I played with it several minutes last night when I got home, and added at least another 15 minutes to its runtime this morning. Its battery finally gave out so now it's in the 1-hour charger. No experience with 18v batteries, but I've seen Dirt Devils advertised as "15 minutes" before recharging might be imminent, so I think it's either average or better. (Dirt Devil may underestimate so if the batteries do better, their reputation is better.)

Anywho, I discovered that Ryobi does powertools, too. I'm thinking I might have a new collection going soon... *sigh* What is it about me and tools (and collections)? I'm a girl, I'm not supposed to like tools, right? (Yeah, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight... but that chair in the garage soooooooo needs sanding, and Ryobi makes this sander that uses a pad so it doesn't damage the material, sounds good, checking with friend to see if he recommends their tools, too...)

~nv

Camping!!!

Aflac and I went camping last friday and saturday night. It was awesome. First we tried to rent a paddleboat but they'd already closed. We'd left our cameras in the truck, and since we'd hiked down to the lake, we simply wandered around and went back to our site. But once we had our cameras, we wandered around taking pictures until it was almost too dark to see the trail. Then we watched the Perseids from a cemetary right in the grounds. Okay, near the cemetary, anyway. There's this cemetary on one half of a big open area and the other half is just... open... with a picnic table there. But we were close enough to the stones to make me slightly nervous. (Why I'm immensely interested in cemetaries during the day and immensely terrified of them at night is beyond me. Perhaps I saw Thriller too many times growing up.)

Anywho, I saw four shooting stars in that one hour we were out there. First time I'd ever seen a shooting star. At the time it was pretty darned exciting, and even now I can recall how cool it was. But in all logical honesty, big whup. A momentary streak of light no more wondrous than the stars in the sky, other than for the fact that the stars are usually there and the streaks aren't. If I didn't know the cause behind the phenomenon, I'd probably be more awestruck. Despite my logical side, however, I do remember intense feelings of magic. This is because I was sharing this first experience with another first experience - deep love. He was laying right next to me in the grass and was excited that I was excited. Some might say it was almost romantic, but you know me and romance (blechhh). Thus I say it was intensely magical and failed euphemisms of course change everything. ;) At any rate, it can't get better than that no matter how much logic invades your brain!

So then we went back to the campsite and decided against building a fire, opting instead for the warmth of the tent. It was pretty chilly outside those two nights. Summer is throwing tantrums now and will soon be hibernating to rekindle its hot disposition, see, so it got down to perhaps the 40's. Even I, in my 0-degree bag, woke up shivering a few times that night. Aflac looked like he'd been in the fridge all night.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and warmer, so we went down to the lake in hopes of renting a paddleboat. They weren't open yet. This time we'd brought the truck with us so we went back and got our cameras. Heh heh. After wandering around a bit, we finally put the cameras away and ended up getting a paddleboat.

My first paddleboat ride. Pretty neat experience!! We donned our lifejackets and away we went, paddling happily together around the island in the middle of the lake. Exploring. Enjoying. And what beautiful weather it was!! Sunny but not hot. Lovely! And on the way back, a couple of damselflies landed on us. One was blue, the other was purple. They hung around for a while before one took off. The other stayed on my leg until Dale had almost finished pulling the boat back onto land. Then it alighted on a nearby paddleboat. I love damselflies. Not only are they perty, but they eat mosquitoes. *evil laughter*

We got hot dogs and ate lunch together on a nearby stone wall as more and more people showed up to swim and enjoy the cool sunny day. Then Aflac says, "Blueberries?" We had discussed going blueberry-picking that afternoon at a nearby blueberry farm. They've got 2000 bushes. And there are a LOT of blueberries, ripe for the plucking. I was good and didn't eat a single one until we were back at the campsite. It was tempting, though. And after picking enough to fill my big ol' bucket, I started filling Aflac's, which was almost full but not quite. He says, "Okay, I think we've got enough." We tried to leave but I kept finding new bunches of big juicy berries to pick. Finally he took one of my hands and my other hand was holding the bucket, so I started to leave with him. I saw another bunch and thought, "Heh, I'll just put the strap around my neck, freeing up my left hand, and then I'll pick from the next bush!" But by the time I did that (we were still walking you see), the next bush was ... gasp ... EMPTY. I whimpered and whined but Aflac (bless him) kept walking. What makes blueberry picking so addictive?!

We stopped at the little camp store and bought a package of hot dogs and buns, which surprisingly wasn't a bad price. We also bought more firewood. See, we skipped the fire the night before, and me with my fires... well, it seemed we'd probably have a verrrrrrry long one this time. So we returned to the campsite with our 13 pounds of blueberries (I kid you not), the hotdogs, buns, and of course, FIREWOOD.

Let me tell YOU something about FIRES. They only burn well if the wood is actually somewhat DRY. I don't know what kind of wood this was, but it was moist enough to resist catching no matter how long we had kindling going. Paper wouldn't do it. Twigs, leaves, fire starter sticks, etc wouldn't do it. It literally took a few hours to get it going properly. But we had enough flame from the smaller pieces to cook our hot dogs, and thus we ate dinner. Afterward we read, listened to our ipods and danced. Okay, he read, I danced. :)

We turned in probably around 11 and slept a bit better than the night before. The next morning we stopped at his work, picked up his car, had breakfast at Denny's, and then I went right to work. And realized that I'd forgotten my badge at home friday afternoon. Doh...

Anywho, several days and thousands of blueberries later, here I am. Don't EVEN mention the word "blueberry" to me EVER EVER AGAIN. Don't get me wrong, I've gotten creative with the darned things, and it was fun to make blueberry-banana-peach-apple juice smoothies. It was a hoot to make blueberry-banana-yogurt-wheat germ smoothies. And the blueberry-pineapple-milk-banana-coconut milk smoothies were sensationally out of this world. But we still have a good two pints left and we've been GIVING THEM AWAY ALL WEEK...

Not to mention this headache that crops up after I consume blueberries in excess. We're supposed to go picking again this weekend, but I'm starting to wonder if we really /need/ to do this. On the other hand, if I don't retch at the sight of them, we could freeze them this time. But I don't think there's room in the freezer for another 13 pounds...

~nv
~blueberries are eeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil~

You might work too much if...

... you press "9" before dialing from your home phone...

Wazooka

Okay, I just made a literary blunder, and it was with Aflac's mom of all people. Actually, that might have been a good thing, as she finds many of my antics funny anyway. Nonetheless, I am currently blushing up a storm.

See, I was describing to her this wonderful pond around the corner from us where swimming is a must. A few emails later and I said something along the lines of getting her down here for a "wazoo in the water." What I /meant/ was ROMP in the water, but I was seeking a funny nonsense word that started with "wa" so it would sound cuter than romp. I was tickled by it at first until I was signing my name to the email and clicking send. Then I remembered my tendency to use verbiage that actually makes sense when I didn't mean for it to. You know, you're typing something and use a word you don't really know you know, only to look it up whilst scratching your head and discovering that lo and behold, you used it perfectly. Must have read it somewhere, you think, and then thank the muses that they have blessed you with a good working knowledge of your own native language.

WELL... off to dictionary.com I went. No head scratching this time. I was pretty certain it was NOT a word anyway, and with my grip on the language, surely I could never have used this word in the wrong, right? Wrong. I almost lost control of MY wazoo. It apparently is a slang word for "anus." ANUS!! I just told my boyfriend's mom that we had to get her down here for an anus in the water!! EGADS remind me to check things like this out in the dictionary BEFORE I click send... I wrote back apologizing, she may not even know that word (she does now I bet) but nonetheless, am I embarassed...

Anywho, a less sensitive subject is the pond I told her about. It's AWESOME!!!!! I went swimming in it yesterday. It's warm, cold, warm, cold, warm, cold, and warm. Aflac and I go there now and then to watch the ducks and bugs and stuff, but this is the first time I swam in it. Spring-fed, quiet, gorgeous, warm (and cold) waters... rough but sandy bottom, and I got to just neck-level before I could see pond plants. Just My Size!! lol Stayed out there about two hours, and I saw... FISH!! Maybe four inches long. No idea what kind, someone said bass but if they were they were small bass. They're very tame and unafraid of humans unless you're moving right in their midst. So I "stood" on my knees and put my arms out in a circle so the water wouldn't be disturbed inside it and thus I could see straight to the bottom. The fishies crowded around me, looking at me. I said, "Hi, you cute fuzzy little fishies," and smiled at them as they came closer, closer, inching towards me until they were within two inches from my bare legs. Then one came right up to me and sucked a bubble off me. It tickled and I laughed. Then another did the same thing, and another. I was like, "Gah, I'm being eaten by fishies!! Help, help, oh the horror, they're so terrifying," but kept laughing (it really tickled). Then I felt a nip at my bathing suit, followed by a rather strong tug. I looked over and a bigger version of the fishies had grabbed my suit and tried to take it with him. He pulled away and didn't hurt me, but I chased him around the pond until I touched one of his fins. Then he looked at me like, "Hey!! No touchy the fishie!!" And I scowled back, "Yeah? Then no touchy the suity!!" Then I went back to swimming with the fishies and we were all happy.

At least I was. I don't know if they were or not. They were cute, but maybe they were really trying to tell me to get my wazoo out of their pool. Who knows.

I don't know how that word got to be a vulgar slang word, I think it's cute.

Anywho, I've got Pepsi and critters here, and methinks it's time to enjoy them. :)

~nv