Archive for January, 2008
Thursday Thirteen #7
January 31st, 2008
Thirteen places I’d like to visit (or revisit)
In no particular order:
- London, England (or is “UK” more politically correct?)—one of my 2 favorite cities in the world.
- Florence, Italy—the other of my 2 favorite cities in the world, with the added attraction of Italian food.
- San Francisco, CA—the place I always wished I was from.
- Seattle, WA—My dad was based out of Seattle during WWII and my mom said she begged him to settle there after the war. But for Dad there was no place like Iowa.
- Newport, RI—I was stationed there for 4 years and my memories are great.
- Machu Picchu, Peru—preferably before I’m too old to hike the Inca Trail.
- Hawaii—I’ve never been and I’d like to walk the same streets as Magnum PI and “Dan-o.”
- Venice, Italy—yeah, they say it’s dirty, but c’mon, it’s still Venice, and still one of a kind.
- Amsterdam—another city of canals. And beautiful jewelry. And a renowned red-light district.
- Rio de Janeiro—or some other South American city.
- Belize—I’ve wanted to visit ever since I watched “After the Storm” with Benjamin Bratt. It was filmed in Belize and it was absolutely gorgeous.
- Antarctica—I always wanted to be stationed there when I was in the Navy. And now they have cruises to the place. If the ship doesn’t sink.
- French Riviera—because it’s French; and the Riviera.
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The bang that began 2008
January 30th, 2008
Did I ever mention I broke my foot? I know I complained about crutches being the bane of mankind, but don’t think I mentioned why I was using them. On the first Monday in January, I fell down the steps at work and fractured a bone in my foot. So much for even numbered & leap years being the best. Actually, I’m still not counting the year out. Throughout it all, I’ve maintained a good attitude, kept up with some of my plans and restructured the ones I had to.
I went to the orthopedic doctor yesterday for an update. My foot is healing well, but I could have told you that without the x-rays. I see (or rather feel) improvement just about every day. He said the foot would be swollen for awhile even after it’s healed. I knew that too, because I’d severely sprained my ankle many years before and it was still a bit swollen a couple months after I was up and getting around. He told me I could get out of the boot and start wearing shoes whenever I felt I was ready. Ok. And that I should see him in about 6 weeks. Also ok. Then he said that he only needed to follow-up because this was workman’s comp. If it wasn’t, he wouldn’t have needed to see me again at all.
Huh?!? I’m still in a boot! And most likely will be for at least a couple more weeks. I can’t believe a doctor would be so flippant. Yeah, I get a follow up with him. But what if I’d done this at home? He’d just let me go off into the wilderness while still somewhat hobbled and never want to see if I fully recovered?? Guess who won’t be getting any referrals from me.
Tags: doctors
Posted in Griping, Life in general | Comments (0)
Thursday Thirteen #6
January 24th, 2008
Thirteen things I need to do to get my home ready to sell
- Declutter the kitchen, getting rid of old pots and pans, cleaning out the pantry, organizing my “plasticware” so that it doesn’t fall out every time I open the cupboard door. This was supposed to be done in January 2008, but the schedule has been delayed about one month. (I broke my foot.)
- Clean off the dining room table, sort through the bookcase, hutch and surrounding areas.
- Declutter the master bedroom. (This does not include the master closet, which is so massive, it received its own number on the list.
- Declutter the “den” (put in quotes because it’s actually the second bedroom). It’s the room I use for my computer and filing. Besides picking up and sorting through the room, I have a ton of papers I need to file (mostly medical info and investment reports, both of which I seem to get once or twice a week).
- The “guest” bedroom. Right now it’s a storage room, full of kitty hiding spots. It’s horrid!
- The entry and hallway. Again, not including the entry closet as it has its own number. But I might be able to swing it in here, depending on the progress I make.
- Declutter the living room. This includes getting rid of at least one of the two televisions. And organizing those pesky DVDs and (*gasp*) video tapes.
- Organize the master bath. This shouldn’t be too hard, mostly throwing out the old cosmetics and stuff.
- Declutter the guest bath. Again, this shouldn’t be too hard. Maybe I can do both of them in just one month.
- Clean out the master closet. See, it has its own number. And it needs it!
- Clean out the entry closet. But now that I think about it, I should be able to clean it out when I clean up the entry way.
- Clean out the linen closet. I want to pare down to just two or three sets of sheets and towels.
- Clean out the closet in the “den.” This has lots of old photos, old clothes, and probably several other things I’ve forgotten. Oh, and it’ll probably include a few items from cleaning up the den room (see #4).
Once I finish sorting through the house (I have a few more places to go), I hope to do the decorating and remodeling.
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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
Posted in Pack brat, Thursday 13 | Comments (5)
Thursday Thirteen #5
January 17th, 2008
This week’s Thursday Thirteen is brought to you by someone who has no idea what to write about.
Thirteen Random Thoughts
- I’m an official Thursday Thirteener! Woot!
- Showtime’s movies sucks.
- Dexter really is as entertaining as they say. Who’d have thought I’d enjoy a show where the hero is a serial killer?
- The L Word (the reason I switched from HBO to Showtime) is okay. But sometimes I feel it needs to decide whether it’s a drama or a comedy.
- I think I’m going have a Jonathan Rhys Meyers overdose (and not in a good way). He’s everywhere!
- I really liked the one episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles I saw. (I missed the premiere.) I loved the original movie (you know, the one where the governor of California played the bad guy). The main characters and actors are quite compelling.
- Who knew the future leader of the world has emo-bangs. (And if you don’t know what emo-bangs are, you need to watch Supernatural.)
- Supernatural is still the best tv show you’re not watching.
- The real, original Grimm’s Fairy Tales are incredibly gruesome.
- Last year I liked this blog layout a lot. This year, not so much. (ETA: I have now changed the layout. This is one I still like and keep coming back to.)
- I can now personally verify that sprains are more painful than breaks.
- Peapod by Giant is wonderful, even if they do get several things on the order wrong.
- My keyboard is giving me fits. Probably caused by all the crumbs and spilled liquids it’s had to endure.
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! | View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
Posted in Couch Critic, Musings, Thursday 13 | Comments (3)
Miscellany
January 16th, 2008
I’m officially a Thursday Thirteener. Woot! Thanks, Carol, for being patient with me. I thought about doing this post as a Thursday Thirteen, but can’t seem to come up with 13 idle thoughts.
With all the advances in modern medicine, you’d think they could come up with something better and easter to use than crutches. I fell down the stairs at work last Monday (Jan 7) and broke my left foot. This is the first broken bone I’ve ever had. I spent over a week in a semi-cast (a “splint,” which has all the negatives of a cast) and on crutches. Not fun.
I had my follow-up with the doctor yesterday. When I was getting ready to go (my first time out of the house since I broke the foot), I looked out the window and it was (f***ing) snowing! Why couldn’t I have gone last week when it was 60 degrees and beautiful? Oh yeah. I had to wait for the worker’s comp paperwork to go through.
The place I went to is the same medical facility where I had my sinus surgery last October. So how come when I went there for all those post-op check-ups, I could find a great parking spot, but when it was cold & snowy & slippery, and I was on crutches, I had to park in the boonies? Oh life, you are a cruel mistress.
Oh, and I can now verify that sprains really are more painful than breaks. I injured the same foot about 20 years ago—doing the same thing. I missed a step and fell down. My friend who was with me said she heard a crack. Nothing was broken, but I’d severely sprained my left ankle. (Apparently you can hear tendons and ligaments break, too.) The sprain was indeed more painful than the break, but that’s not to say I didn’t need the pain killers.
I’m now in a boot & still have the crutches. I can walk a short ways without the crutches, so at least I can pick things up around the house and put them away. Last week I was putting everything in plastic grocery bags and carrying them to & from my destinations. So I guess that’s progress.
Posted in Couch Critic, Musings, Work | Comments (0)
Friday Fifteen
January 4th, 2008
So, here are two things I forgot for Thursday Thirteen #4. (Then again, it wouldn’t have been a Thursday Thirteen had I included them.)
- Transfer MS Money and all financial data from my laptop on the dining room table (see item #1) to my primary computer. Obviously, this wasn’t accomplished as planned.
- Hold the “Great Mary Kay Give-Away.” At one time I was a Mary Kay “personal use” consultant with thoughts of actually selling the stuff. Never happened. Consequently, I have a boat-load of products just taking up space. This goes along with my goal of getting the clutter in my home under control.
Posted in Musings, Pack brat | Comments (0)
Thursday Thirteen #4
January 3rd, 2008
Yes, Thursday Thirteen has been resurrected, thanks to pussreboots. So we rebegin with:
Thirteen things I’d like to accomplish in 2008
(What, you were expecting something different?)
- Clear off the dining room table, so I can actually dine on it.
- Clean and declutter the kitchen.
- Join this singing group.
- Find an internal medicine doctor I like.
- Create my own WordPress blog theme (design).
- Read Lorelle on WordPress more consistently.
- Start posting Google ads on my Benjamin Bratt website.
- Finish and post all of my essays.
- Eat out with a friend or two once a month.
- Start a LiveJournal community.
- Knit some bulky ski caps and long red scarves for friends and family. (Next year I might even try the fingerless gloves.)
- Put five Jensen Ackles into my savings account each month. Well, that’s what this automated New Year’s Resolution gizmo said. And I’m not going to argue with this one!
- Participate in Thursday Thirteen consistently.
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Happy 2008!
January 2nd, 2008
(See, a day late this year, too.) I prefer even-numbered years to odd-numbered years. It seems all the good things happen in even years: I was born, graduated from high school (& various colleges), was commissioned in the Navy. Good times! I like leap years even more! Feb 29 (besides being my grandpa’s birthday, as well as a friend’s) is Sadie Hawkins Day. That’s the day when women can ask men to marry them. (Ok, maybe it’s a little outdated for modern times, but the emphasis is still on the guy to propose.) Dr. Joyce Brothers once said it’s actually a good thing, because women tend to pick partners for better reasons than men.
And new years bring new “resolutions.” This year I’m trying to get my home in shape. First up is the kitchen. I spent some of yesterday cleaning up the dirty dishes. But the main intent is to clean out the cabinets and get rid of old/duplicate/unused items.
I say “some” of the time was in the kitchen, because I also welcomed in the new year with my very own Supernatural marathon. I didn’t get through all 10 or episodes I’d planned to watch, but it was fun to go back and watch some favorite episodes I hadn’t seen in awhile.
Tags: kitchen, Supernatural
Posted in Musings, Pack brat, Supernatural | Comments (2)