Morning tasks

So... what did YOU do before work this morning?



Oh, I showered and got dressed, fed the guinea pig, played with the kitten, balanced an account, scrubbed battery corrosion off an old handheld microscope and checked continuity on a tiny lightbulb...



WHEEE!!! The joys of morning life!

Concert: Dave Matthews Band

Went to see Dave Matthews Band in Saratoga last night.  The concert was crowded.  Sold out.  We ended up sitting next to the pee fence to avoid the majority of people.  It's right by the woods which is right by a river of sorts and we only saw one mosquito (although I suspect I was bitten at least once or twice).  At least four guys asked us if we were OK with them peeing through the fence.  I didn't mind that they were doing it but I sure was jealous (I really had to go, too, but didn't until we left the concert... and when I saw the bathrooms I had wished I had just held it until I exploded, those bathrooms were gross).  Still, the seating arrangement we chose for ourselves was far better than getting trampled and getting high on second-hand pot smoke.

Other than the crowd, gross bathrooms, bad musical location, and such, though, it was pretty good... I enjoyed the fact that the entire crowd knew at least half the songs and sang along in one large choir.  We also had a good view of a big screen, so we saw the band in essence.  We were in a particularly good spot to observe the singing phenomenon, though, and it was pretty cool to watch.  Can't get that on an album.  The energy was mixed up, too, with excitement and partying.  LOTS of young people there.  It's amazing to see a band like DMB with so many younger people.  They're much like Chicago (probably more so, maybe) in that regard.

Goes to show you that the great bands continue to attract admirers.  I bet there won't be any young people at a Britney Spears concert twenty years from now!

Of course, I still fell asleep about 10pm and woke up about 11ish.  We hit the bathrooms and listened to more of the concert as we left... I was too tired at that point to deal with any more crowd and was getting panicky.  We both had water under our feet in the bathrooms.  I told Dale that mine was actually flowing under my shoes and I didn't want to touch anything at all.  Sooo gross... but the relief was almost worth it... I didn't even wash my hands for fear of something worse being at the sinks.  I even showered when we got home, even though I'd slept for another hour on the ride back.

Anywho, at the bathroom point, the band had just barely had a short break.  I can't believe they performed for three solid hours and the break they did get was short.  Crazy!!  We could actually hear the /band/ a bit better from the outside, at least until a certain point, and we got out of the parking lot really quickly which was an added plus.

Chicago is playing at SPAC in August.  I've never seen them and am very tempted to see what a Chicago concert is like these days, but half the band has been replaced a few times over and it's hard to imagine actually paying to see a band that has only gone downhill from my perspective.  But, it'll be really close by, not that far out of our way, really, for a concert.  It seems wrong to not go somehow.  LOL  We'll see.

domain transfers COMPLETE!!

It's final. All my domains are now transferred to a new hosting company. Well, with the exception of one, which was too close to expiration. So, I purposely lost it and will see if it's still around when it's done being tied up in auction. Whatever. I wasn't about to renew it at the original registrar because I'm still mad at them. While transferring my last domain, I noticed that the contact information on that domain was still out of date. How many damned places does one need to change information? For the domain alone, there were FOUR. That's on top of all the other places I'd already modified my stats.



I also got emailed at two email addresses about the same domains from the same registrar. They obviously have no bloody clue how to apply profile information across the board - not even on the same domain! I'm glad I'm finally done with them.



One good point is that this time, I noticed that I can accept a domain tranfer... I hadn't seen that before. I went in and accepted right away. I think maybe it's private registration that causes the real messy scenarios of denying transfers, but I'm not sure... this time it went within minutes. Of course, it was my second try, and private registration was already ousted.



:: happy sigh ::



~w

WHEEEEEeeeeeeee!!!!!

Whee? WHEEEEEEeeeee!!!! WHEE! Wheeeee....



WHEEEEE!!!



That's really all I have to say today. I'm simply happy. It's a good state to be in.



~w

capd to a T

http://qw88nb88.wordpress.com/living-with-auditory-processing-disorder/

I could NOT have stated any of this any better myself, ever, ever, ever.  Even the strategies and the desires states are exactly what I do and wish others would do.  One of the last bits, about how all the abilities to compensate deteriorate during illness or being tired, is something I've been increasingly aware of.  It's like night and day at times... I have a great day at work, only to wake up the next day with a cold or without enough sleep, or with too much stress... and meetings or just generally having to deal with people is like telling me I need to go shove my foot into a furnace.  I cringe upon looking forward to it and feel my whole being sag inside.  Then I struggle to understand half of what's going on, and to make it worse, the one thing I wish people would do - give me an agenda well ahead of time - is not done, so I have to guess at what the subject is about.

So... Unfortunately, not everyone listens... funny, how someone who CAN listen, doesn't bother, and someone who has trouble understanding speech, tries to listen so damned hard, only to be scolded in some way.  And no, this has not recently happened, but it does happen regularly.  It's one of the fun things about being involved in projects.  Yay, whoo hoo...

:: sarcasm ::

:: end sarcasm ::

I hate society's norms.

-nv

Guinea Pig Part III

Nikon and I have established a routine, I think.  I come downstairs each day about 6:30am and go, "Hellloooooo!" at which point I remove the cover to the cage.  He responds by popping out of his PVC and going, "Whee whee whee whee WHEE WHEE WHEE WHEE?!" to which I respond by saying, "Oh, my goodness!  Are we hungry?"  Then I saunter off to the fridge to get his greens.

This is where a guinea pig is making me eat healthier each day instead of just whenever I feel like it.  I have to try a piece of his greens because it's there.  Then, I have to bite off a large piece of strawberry because he won't eat the entire thing anyway.  I also bite off a piece of carrot to ensure it's OK.  (Yeah, that's it.)  Then he gets the rest and the wheeks turn off for a while.  I hand him a piece of green stuff and he snatches it from my fingers and drags it into his PVC pipe.  Munch, munch, munch, munch.  At this point I then dump the remaining veggies onto his veggie plate, change his water, and add more grain stuff to his dish.

I purposely put his cage near my desk so I can talk to him whenever I am home.  Last night he decided he was needier than usual and began wheeking at me whenever I left his cage.  He wouldn't let me pick him up.  He just wanted me to chase him around his cage.  I know he actually wanted me to chase him around his cage because as soon as I came over the loud wheeking would be replaced by contented little warbles and a devious eyeball.  He'd come out just long enough for my hand to get near, then he'd run back through the PVC pipe, come out the other end, and do a popcorn on his way into the oatmeal box, another one on his way out, slam into the Hefty box with the hay in it, and come bolting out back toward the PVC, making another popcorn and tossing his head.  This would repeat several times.  If I tried to walk away, the loud wheeking would return.

I knew going into this that guinea pigs are very social creatures, so I knew I had to be his social contact pretty frequently.  The loud wheeking after 20 minutes of being his captive audience, however, when I only wanted to be three feet away, was getting on my nerves just a smidgeon.  So, I decided he needed some bathroom time.  By that I mean I plopped him and his toys on the bathroom floor, along with him, and said, "Have at it."

Now that I think about it, that was mean.  I'd been gone all day and the poor little bugger was only claiming my evening after being alone all day.  But he made quite a mess in there so it was obvious he was all over the place, exploring.  I am hoping that it took his mind off his missing playmate for a while.  I was REALLY tired last night!  And, when he got back in his cage, he looked tired, too.

Oh, the other part of my days now:  When I get home at night, I now stop for a large handful of grass.  I usually go out each morning for a handful, too.  And as soon as I'm home, I also go to the fridge amidst the wheeks and get him his greens again, with whatever other treat I can come up with.

Shopping has changed, too.  I wandered around the market last time, anxiously wondering if the guy filling the produce area was going to replace all the missing mixed greens.  It was with a great sigh of relief when I wandered back through and found a couple boxes of the stuff in their places.  Phew!!  And I love strawberries, but now the box is actually dwindling instead of rotting.  Guinea pigs to add a special dimension to one's life.  And they have the cutest little butts.  :)

Now, if only I can figure out what the rumbling sound is... sometimes he makes it when I'm petting him (when he lets me pet him) and other times he makes it at sounds.  It would seem he doesn't like the sounds, so does that mean he really hates me petting him?  :: shrug ::  About the only things I have learned for sure are that the loud wheeks mean he wants something, the software ones are a form of contentment, the popcorns seem happy and energetic, and the silent shaking is terror.  I really don't like the shaking.  He doesn't do it much now but yesterday I took him outside for grass and on the way in, he began doing that again.  He's really not fond of being picked up.  It's unfortunate, because I thought constantly picking them up would solve that.  It's taking a long time and it hurts to keep pushing the issue.  At the same time, I'm afraid that pushing it is the only way to get him to accept it.  /Sigh.  Maybe if I get him used to my petting him in his cage, he'll trust my hands enough to stop fearing them when they slide under his body.

Aight, off to go find the little nerd.  I hear little noises right now.  Sounds like he's playing and talking to himself again.  :D

~w

New apartment!

No, not for us... for a friend.  We got to see his new place down the road from us today.  Nice and spacious.  Even though it's an older place, the carpeting and electrical were done up newish and reminded me a lot of my first apartment... or, technically, my second one.  That brought back a lot of memories.  The first thing he did was set up his internet connection.  All he had in the house were some sprayers of cleaning solution, sponges, his laptop, new router, modem, a bottle of water, and a radio.  The fridge wasn't even turned on yet.  He showed me Technet, which I remember someone telling me to subscribe to years ago in order to obtain MS products and such for testing.

He's about a decade younger than me so it was really easy to look back on how excited I was while I listened to him go on and on about stuff.  Very cool.  Then I looked at Dale and said, "Let's go home and have dinner," and we left, and talked about how cluttered our house is now and how we should really change some stuff up, etc.  I have since cleared off my desk again.  Does wonders to visit an empty house, still devoid of objects de living.  LOL.

But the funny thing is that I so nearly began feeling homesick for my old place, and then my mind quickly drifted to "our" first place, then to this one.  That made me stop longing for my past happiness and focus on the present happiness again.  Made me feel kinda old, too, looking back on something like that and so quietly and effortlessly accepting that I'm in a different place in my life now.

Speaking of different place, I'm ready for sleep and need to go say hi to Nikon before bed, too.  He's been quietly muttering to himself over there all night.  :)

~nv