Sitting out on the balcony day 2

Sunny with a cool breeze today

Sitting out on the balcony...

It's actually a bit too cool, but I wanted to try out Step-mommy's laptop lapdesk. I don't find it advantageous when sitting on the couch, because it puts my wrists into a more carpelly tunnelly position, but now I'm seeing what it's like if I sit out on my swinging chair.


Now that I have a better router and a new battery, I can enjoy computering on my balcony again this summer. :-) ...Nombly too.


Oops, there's a dude sitting up on his balcony, so I'll turn off my music. Oh wait, he's smoking... if his smoke blows my way I'll have to retaliate by turning the music back on. ...If only I knew what kind of music he hates.

Well, if my feet are flat on the ground then this is a nice laptop table. But usually my feet are propped up on my trusty log-stool. And then the lapdesk put the computer too high.


The neighbours are putting in their air conditioner. Fernando will be ready to put his in soon... after the 28 degree weather we had this week.

Nomblys attention arrested by the air conditioner installation.

Ahhh the vacay begins.

And the cats seem to know it.

Step-mommy is here for a couple days, then she'll head out to see her family in the townships. Right now she's off with a friend, Fernando's sleeping, and I'm watching Jam and Jerusalem with the kittehs.

I finally bought a new battery for my laptop--I've been using the power cord for ages now. Forgot what a laptop is good for! Anyway it's been delivered, and is charging up. I've also ordered a new battery for my second-hand ipod, because it doesn't keep a charge longer than 20-30 minutes. Apple doesn't make ipods in such a way as to buy a new battery, but I ordered from an online company that sends you a battery, tools to open the casing, and directions. It should hold power for 10 hours after that.

So I'll be mobile again! ;-)

Now I've just got to decide what to cook today. Cause I'll have time to cook this week. mmmm Yay! Right now I'm yearning for Cornish pasties, since they're making them on Jam and Jerusalem. But I'm so bad at pastry.

doesn't my $15 watch impress you dahling??

Exercise, from the Tierney Lab at NYT (on the topic of whether high end fancy brand purchases make us happy.)

List the ten most expensive things (products, services or experiences) that you have ever paid for (including houses, cars, university degrees, marriage ceremonies, divorce settlements and taxes). Then, list the ten items that you have ever bought that gave you the most happiness. Count how many items appear on both lists.

- treadmill
- previous computer
- current computer
- my university degrees

This is hard. There aren't many items I've paid over $1000 for, in my life. There's a few things in the 100s. There are some things in the hundreds, like my dishwasher, or trip to London.

Most Happiness:
- both computers
- dishwasher
- trip to London (including the camera I bought for it)
- my degrees, on good days
- innumerable books, albums, songs, and some movies

One commenter on the site said this:

"Some interesting questions came up:

Paying big tax bills didn’t make me happy, but staying out of jail did.
Paying for accidents and illnesses didn’t make me happy, but not doing so…..
Most of those houses and cars didn’t make me happy, but not having them …?
Grad school didn’t make me happy, but - en passant - it kept me out of Vietnam.
That early retirement was huge. Should each investment that enabled it make the list?
And so on. I suspect that we’d learn more from lists restricted to consumer stuff (plus expeditions!)"

blab blab blab

Something else on the to-do list that I just to-doned--some teaching job applications. Vanier and Dawson posted their continuing education positions for the fall. I would be quite happy to teach cont ed... evening shifts, and "mature" students! ;-)

Once in awhile I think about my blogs, and wonder what they would look like to a prospective employer. I'm not overly worried about it, but I do try to keep that standard in mind when posting. Not that I try to raise the level of my vocabulary and only post Deep Messages (as the last lolcat posting shows), but I try not to be too personal either. ...Which is probably why this blog isn't terribly exciting. I'm not going to write about a fight with my hubby, or a crappy thing that happened at work! (And, oh yes, I have to think about my reputation at my current job as well.)

One of my nom de plumes is in the email address I put on my CV, so in theory I have traceability. But if I google it, the first listings have nothing to do with me. My real name brings up some innocuous links. My other plume-name brings up my facebook public profile, which contains next to nothing, this blog, a comment I left on a firefox add-on (which the developer answered, and I never realized it!), and my never-used myspace page.

What can they learn from this blog? That I'm mathematically foolish... better not apply to teach stats courses. ...That I like cats. ...That I have trouble going to bed early. ...That I have an ant problem. (Actually, I don't anymore. After the last attack we cleaned the Sticky Cupboard, killed the next 3 ants who showed up, and they've left us alone since. I guess when scouts don't return, the troops get suspicious.)

Okay enough blathering. Goodnight!

Chores chores chores

This past weekend:

- battery for watch
- new *underthings*
- poster paper & markers for project
- lunches for the week
- picked up prescrips
- ordered new ipod battery
- ordered new laptop battery

Still to do:

- driver's license renewal
- passport renewal
- headache pills renewed
- got blood appt on Monday (put up with shaming from doctor for waiting a year)
- gotta put in a bunch of Feliways
- work stuff before my week off
- clean apartment for Francey Visit!
(I was going to clean on week off, but now the stepmummy's coming a few days before!)

Sigh. Oh la oh la. Well that's what spring is for. Must be time for some lolcats...

The Story of Me in: British series!

Getting back in a Brit series mood. So much good Britty tv, so little life.... My mother got me into all this stuff. One of my great inheritances. Bless you muthah.

Watching Wallander--a Brit series based on a series of Swedish mystery novels. It is sooo nice seeing Branagh doing something good again.

Gavin & Stacey

Foyle's War