As Amy recently mentioned, we rearranged furniture over the weekend. We had planned it to be yardwork day, in honor of fall officially starting. The weather disagreed with us, so no chainsaw in the rain for me.
Instead we completely re-did the computer room/family room. Amy's desk moved to my spot and is now my desk, and she got mine. Both desks now face the wall with windows, instead of being angled towards each other. It's harder to see each other now, but far easier to see the rest of the room. Increased Jareth visibility was the goal, so we got that.
Tonight, while Amy's at class and before it got dark, I went out with a borrowed pole-saw and culled some deadwood from trees. You know, the dead branches that were bound to fall on the roof otherwise. Yeah, those--say bye-bye.
So thanks to Dad for loaning it to me, and thanks for fixing it first. Oh, and you're gonna have to fix it again... Same problem.
But Amy's on her way home; Jareth's sleeping. A little relax time, methinks.
Amy's out at class, leaving me with Jareth and a short to-do list. One item on the list: Laundry.
So I'm in the laundry room emptying the dryer, folding each item as it comes out. Jareth is in the room, naming things as I pull them out.
Towards the end, for each of the the last five or six items, while I'm folding he pokes his head inside, then looks back at me to declare:
"Nobody inside."
I don't know where he got that one, but I couldn't help but laugh.
I recently got what looked like another comment spam. Usually it's a comment with a very short statement (like "Cool site.") with a link to whatever they're trying to market. The more sites link to theirs, the higher they end up listed in search engines, and, theoretically, the more traffic money they end up getting.
Usually it's online poker sites.
This last one was to MyNiceMailAt.com.
By the content I figured it was probably spam, but the link didn't provide any suggestion as to what it was.
So I copied the address and went to it.
It leads to another blog.
It seems the spammer hadn't registered MyNiceMailAt.com yet, so this blogger did and directed it to his blog instead. Usurping the link means no money for the spammer.
I'm still going to delete the spam comment out of principle, but this other guy's tactic is amusing. I can appreciate fighting back.
The Sandwich Fair was an interesting experience. In short, it had a one-word theme: excess. Everything was too big, or too loud, or too bright/flashing, or too...fattening. Occasional really good morsels of food drifting lost in an ocean of just nasty.
The tractor pulls were the most annoying part. All day Saturday. They weren't even terribly close to us, but they were too loud to talk over. It's much harder to get people excited about something you can't effectively talk to them about.
It was also very hot for most of it.
I confirmed that the allergy problems I've been having of late aren't from something in the house. Interestingly enough, they got much worse when the sun went down. Or maybe that's when the antihistamines were wearing off consistently.
I took a couple of short breaks to wander around, but not as much as I'd planned on (or quite as much as I should have and wanted to). Of course, in the original plan Scott was still going to be working, and we thought we'd see more of Jonathan, who was away more than he was there.
But I have a lot of good prospects to follow up on. That's part of today's project.
About half an hour or a little more before I drive down to Sandwich, IL. The fair starts today. Amy and Jareth are coming out mid-afternoon or so, and we'll hang out for dinner for my birthday.
But except for Thursday night I'll be living in one of the rental motorhomes for the week along with four or so others. Ray the Sales Manager, Jonathan the other salesman, and Ryan, one of the shop guys. It'll be interesting, to say the least. We'll see what kind of stories I come back with.
Sunday night everyone's making a trip back to the dealership, but since I'll be driving my own car out I might not really be able to help on that trip. Monday and maybe even Tuesday will be more trips getting it all back.
I might post something while I'm back to babysit Thursday night, but otherwise I won't be posting until next week. As it was, we made sure to wrap up Quick Shtick Writing so we didn't leave it with a week's interruption and then end it. We're both glad to have that one over. It wasn't anywhere near as enjoyable to write, and can't have been that exciting to read.
Well, time to hop in the shower, methinks...
Yesterday we went to Mom & Dad's for dinner. In addition to the every-other-couple-weeks dinner, it was the early celebration for by birthday.
It was a good time. A lot of talking, including some older family stuff I didn't know before. I always enjoy those conversations because I end up with something new each time, and it leaves me understanding someone in the (extended) family better. It's not that things have necessarily been held back, it's just that a lot of conversations just never came up before.
While we were at the Renfaire last weekend Amy and I picked out the Viking-style drinking horn that was her present to me. I brought it with last night, as I'd been intentionally holding off on using it until then. Dad and I shared a couple of the beers we'd given him for his birthday. Both were good. The horn holds a bottle's worth with room to spare. It looks bigger, so I'm glad I didn't get one of the smaller ones. It definitely works for drinking out of, and it has a strap so I can sling it over my shoulder and it doesn't spill.
The coolest presents last night, however, were both books. Lindsay gave me Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. Her boyfriend apparently spent some time at a Buddhist monestary, so there should be some very interesting conversations in the future.
Now it turns out that Dad's dad was fascinated with boats and sailing (something I hadn't known before). The book he owned was Piloting: Seamanship & Small Boat Handling. Apparently almost nothing has changed between the edition out then and the current 62nd edition (aside from color illustrations). The copy Dad gave me comes from the library of one of the Civil War artillery unit's members, who has used the book for years and years on his 30-or-so foot sailboat. It's the same 1959-60 edition my grandfather owned. It's a hardcover book, and Dad made a kraft paper cover for it, and presented it tied with twine.
Both are books I'll take some time to read and digest. The Zen book will happen first, as I've got some time before I need to worry about Coast Guard certification.
Hey, holiday weekends mean two days in a row home. Tonight we're going to Mom and Dad's for dinner (and early birthday celebration). Tomorrow we're staying home and roleplaying.
Yesterday was Scott's last day. Scott was the other salesman hired the same time as me. He was miserable, so he left. I guess he'll be working in banking next.
After the first week I doubted he'd like it there, and I was right.
He and I had just so... nothing in common. Completely different worlds and attitudes.
His attitude had become extremely negative, and he was bringing me down with him. It's always sad to have to be glad someone's gone, but that's the way it is.
Wednesday, aside from being my birthday, is the start of the Sandwich Fair, the largest fair in Illinois. It runs through next Sunday, and they're expecting as many as 200,000 people. That was what last year's attendance was, at any rate. There are five or six RV dealers that'll be there. I think we have the better spot than the rest.
So Tuesday night I'll drive out there after Amy's jewelry class. Other than driving back for Thursday evening to babysit during her Thursday class (and taking Jareth to his 'nastics gymnastics class, I'll be living out at the fair for almost a week.
Amy's planning on coming out to see it/me, possibly on Wednesday since that's my birthday. My folks are talking about coming out, maybe on Sunday.
It's going to be a wierd experience, but it'll be fun.