Last night a horrible thunderstorm with tornadoes swept through town. I've heard that two houses were demolished on the south side of town but many more were seriously damaged. Whole trees were uprooted and vehicles flipped over. Thankfully, no people or pets were hurt.

I live on the north side of town and merely got the 70mph winds and torrential downpour. The rain was so heavy you couldn't see down the block. The high winds made it look more like blowing snow. Normally at 8pm we still have plenty of daylight but 8pm last night was as dark as midnight.

Not long after 8pm my section of town lost power so I couldn't even listen to the radio. The weather/disaster sirens were blaring periodically throughout the storm so I was trying to find a radio station giving updates. All were either playing music as if nothing were happening or completely off the air. My brother lives in the apartment directly below me so I ventured down to see if there was anything informative on the weather radio. Not really. Just generic "what to do in the event of a tornado" broadcasting.

I've thought in the past about getting a police scanner and this is a good example of why one should. I only heard about the tornadoes after the storm was over and I dared plug my phone back in to call my mother. She told me my brother-in-law had been called down to the fire station on the south side to help with the tornado situation. It's tempting to drive down there to gawk but I'm feeling too lazy!

For the first time in I don't know how many years, I can partake of the festivities. When you work an emergency travel desk, your schedule is evenings, weekends, and holidays. Also, today is my first official day of unemployment so I really have no excuse not to go to the parade, buy brats on main street, and watch all the fireworks tonight.

I even put up a flag on my balcony! Ooooo....

Sunscreen of SPF 70 has been purchased. I'm still as white as a vampire even after 2 months of paid leave. I suppose those 2 months can't compete with the 11 years locked away in an office. Maybe I SHOULD have got the membership at the tanning bed place back in May!

Here are a few more of my afghans.

( Click for the pics )

*Looks at calendar* Yes, it's June.
*Looks out window* Yes, it's snowing.

I've heard tall tales of snow on the 4th of July but I've never seen it snow later than mid May.

*sigh*

North Dakota...

I went to Minneapolis this weekend to see Keane in concert and spend some time with my Baby Bro.

I live west of Minneapolis so I was in the sun the entire way home. After 200 miles of having the side of my head fried by the May sun, I stopped at a Wal-Mart with the intention of buying a car window shade or some tinting. I breezed on back to the car dept to find all kinds of kits to permanently tint windows and some huge rolls of temp tinting and nothing under $20. There was one 1 foot by 1 foot Harley Davidson decal but that was nearly $10!

So I decided to try the baby section since most baby on board vehicles have some kind of window shade. Who cares if I'm advertising Winnie the Pooh down the freeway as long as my brain isn't cooking! No baby shades!

Well crap! I decided to just settle for some poster putty and a cheap hand towel so went over to the office supplies. No poster putty.

I stood there glaring at the various packages around me and noticed some Post It notes that were the size of a quarter sheet of paper. Hey now! I could stick maybe 4 of those to the window and get some serious shade! But they were over $5. Then I looked down at ankle level and there was a $1 pack of Post It's about 3 inches square. Now we're talking!

I drove home with about 15 Post Its all over the window and got some truly bizarre looks as people passed me. But at least I had some shade!

Yesterday I was told my company is closing the office I work in and I will be officially unemployed in 2 months. Crap. I really didn't think this would happen in spite of rumors for the last week. Foolish me.

On the bright side, I'm on paid leave for the next 2 months and I'm getting a severance package that extends for most of the rest of this year! I've decided to allow myself to take this summer off and not drive myself to find a new job right away. There's no way I can see myself not doing anything for 6 months so I'm pretty sure I'll be looking around for a new job. I figured I'll start actively applying in August.

I'll never get another job that pays this well in this town. I'm considering trying to find some kind of work at home thing. Data entry or medical transcription maybe. We had consultants in the office today telling us how they will help us write an effective resume and where to look for the good, reputable jobs. I'll be getting so many packets and forms coming in the mail in the next week it'll be hard to keep them all straight.

But like I told my Mom, I don't have to figure it all out today. Or even this week. It's not like I don't have plenty of time!

My vet didn't really believe I could get blood from Spooky and do glucose testing on my own. Hah! I've successfully done it... a few times! He's put up with the insulin shots quite well until recently. He's now down to a much healthier weight and it's getting harder to pinch up a fat roll for an injection site. I've had to re-learn how not to use the entire length of the needle so I don't stab him so deep.

Now I'm abusing his poor ears to draw blood for the glucose testing! He must think I've become an insane torturer! I'm only successful about one out of four or five tries and I've learned not to push it if I don't get blood the first time. I just let him run off to sulk and try again in another hour or so.

( It's actually all my fault :( )

When it's springtime in North Dakota
And the gentle breezes blow
About seventy miles an hour
And it's fifty-two below

You can tell you're in North Dakota
'Cause the snow's up to your butt
And you take a breath of springtime air
And your nostrils both freeze shut

The weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave North Dakota
My feet are frozen to the ground

( No, I didn't write the poem... )

>copy of a recent post to crochetcrochet <

Normally I'm a thread crocheter, but for the last few months I've been on an afghan kick.

One day at Hobby Lobby I groped some I Love This Yarn and next thing I knew I was in the car with 8 skeins! Then I discovered craftetc and their lovely sales with free shipping. The next week a box with $50 worth of ILTY was delivered to my door!

Who is this yarn addict alter ego that's taken over my body? :)

( Afghan Spam )

Yep, my boy has diabetes.


About 2 months ago I noticed he suddenly was drinking an awful lot of water and in the litterbox constantly. I tried to deny what I suspected and thought perhaps it was just because the apartment was so dry. It's been a pretty harsh winter and my own skin is suffering from the dry air. So I started boiling water on the stove since I don't have a humidifier. It seemed to help a bit, but after 2 weeks of watching him still drinking too much, I took him to the vet.

I came home with a bag of friggin' expensive prescription diet food and was told to come back in 2 weeks for another glucose check.

( After 2 weeks... )

I was at work last night so kept track of the ballot counting on CNN and on the muted TV we keep at the office. I was just ending a rather long call when someone took the TV off mute to listen to McCain's bowing out speech. I was a little surprised since some states hadn't even closed their polls yet and, the last time I checked, Obama was at 207 electoral votes. I refreshed CNN to see he'd shot up to over 300! He'd left the 270 electoral votes mark in the dust!

I live in a very Republican state, but I vote Independant. I pick the candidate who I think this country needs the most, regardless of party. I was happy to see the majority of the country agreed with my opinion.

After I took another call or two, it was Obama's turn. As he started speaking I couldn't help but think that, not very long ago, in the grand scheme of things, he'd have been sitting at the back of the bus and not allowed to use certain water fountains. The camara focussed on Jessie Jackson and he had tears in his eyes. He tried so hard for so long to become President and I'm glad he got to see a black man finally win. We've come a long way but we still have a long way to go!

Then Obama began on his "Yes we can" portion of his speech. It wasn't long before the crowd was repeating him. I couldn't help but comment that it suddenly sounded like we were in church! *snerk* *chortle* My next-desk neighbor and fellow Battlestar Galactica fan replied with "So say we all!" *high five*

Finally, I wondered if the economy hadn't gone so far down the crapper so fast this year, would Obama have won? If things were stable would people have stuck with the traditional old white guy? With the way things are I think a lot of people decided we have to do something different and we have to do it fast! I'd still have voted for Obama regardless, but I wonder how many others would have too?

In spite of my love for Spiderman, despite how great this looks, NEVER!

portus_envy was created as a haven for those not going to the Harry Potter convention in Dallas last week. This new community exploded with activity and spawned fic prompt requests, banners, and icons. A large proportion of the resulting works were SS/HG centric, much to my delight!

The stories posted faster than I could keep up. I started an html index for myself so I could go back and read what I hadn't time for right away. Turns out the mods started posting a daily round-up of community activity, but I just kept on with my own list anyway. It looks a right mess, but I think I've managed to get every SS/HG and SS/HG/Other fic posted to portus_envy so far. The posting has slowed to a manageable rate so I won't be updating this list any longer.

Germany and France have debated their border for centuries. Sometimes France thought it should be the Rhine River and Germany said, "Ummm, no." Sometimes Germany thought it should be... I don't know... the Mosel or something, and we can all probably guess what the French said!

Anyway, the architecture between these two rivers, especially on the France side, is a mix of French and the German half-timbered look.

Strasbourg is lovely and charming and I wish we could have spent more than 4 hours there!

There are at least half a dozen Rothenburgs in Germany so you have to specify ob der Tauber if you want to get the right one. The old city is still inside the medieval walls with only a couple of gates providing access. The buildings are all the traditional half-timbered with the orange tile roofs. It's an extremely picturesque city and I took over 150 pictures there!

Well, I'm back from my 2 1/2 weeks in Europe. I got home Monday night at 10pm to be exact. I visited London, multiple cities in Germany, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, and Salzburg. I pretty much visited a different city each day! Now it's Saturday and I think I've already kicked the jet lag (Yay!) so I think I can manage to make a few posts about the trip.

( Click for the London part of the trip. )
On Tues (26Feb) the London portion of the trip was over and we flew off to Frankfurt...
 

It's hard to believe but tomorrow I leave for England and Germany! The day has snuck up on me like important things often do; you spend ages waiting for time to plod by, then the last 2 weeks are over in a blink.

I'm all packed already. Normally I'd only be starting that today so, to be done already is surprising. I have everything in a pilot size suitcase but it is *crammed*! I have a larger suitcase that I'd really rather not take, but if I did I'd have all kinds of extra space for all the things I know I'll buy. Usually I end up mailing a package or two home. With the bigger suitcase I maybe wouldn't have to do that.

The weather is going to be a shock to the system. It's -10F here at home, but I know it's supposed to be almost 60F (15C) when I get to London. Germany has been averaging 10 degrees cooler than London so it will be in the 50s (10C). I am definitely taking along a lighter coat than originally planned.

As usual, I find myself needing to venture out for a couple more things I forgot to buy the last 6 times (in 2 days) I've been shopping. I also need to clear out the fridge of any perishables - I don't relish scraping any science projects off the shelves when I get back in 2 1/2 weeks. And I must program the VCR - thank God for the writer's strike as there are only a couple shows with new episodes therefore 1 tape will suffice.

Oh, and while I'm out shopping I'll have to sneak in a side door at the office and photocopy the crochet pattern I'm taking along to do on the plane. Hey, if you can't illegally use the copier for personal stuff, what's the point of having a job with access to a copier? *grin*

This month the snapeartcontest community has a number of different memes to use for art inspiration.

As usual, this Christmas was hosted by my cousin Jim (older brother of Steve whom I'm visiting in Germany in February). Jim's hobby is cooking and he always turns out a magnificent meal.

This year he treated us to 5 courses:
1. bruschetta and fresh bread with wonderful garlic butter
2. broccoli cheese soup
3. pasta with alfredo sauce and chestnuts
4. crown roast, seasoned oven-baked potatoes, grilled asparagus
5. creme brule

Needless to say, we were all stuffed to the eyeballs!

Jim trained as a priest in Rome so a lot of his cooking is Italian. His home is decorated in things he purchased there. For some reason, being in his house this Christmas made me very homesick for Europe even though I've never been to Italy. I wonder if knowing I'll be in Europe in less than 2 months has something to do with it...?

I was just looking at my monthly bill for telephone/cable/internet which costs about $70/mth. This is pretty impressive for service for all three connections.

Until I consider the crap that is my basic cable. I get 22 channels, but only 7 of them are actually watchable: ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, FOX, CW, WGN. If I lived closer to a big city, all those channels would probably be free. But no, I live 600 miles past the hind end of nowhere so I must pay for my broadcast television. I don't know why I bother. I don't ever set the VCR and I end up watching the 3 or 4 programs I care about online. (It's about time the networks joined the rest of us in the 21st century!)

Of the rest of my cable package, there are 3 or 4 home shopping channels, all 3 CSPANs, The Weather Channel, the local weather channel, the Telecom company's weather channel, 2 different local bulletin board channels, and way up at Ch22 is a very snowy Headline News. I don't even get any of the ESPNs so I could maybe watch the odd soccer game if they ever showed one more often than once every 4 years. (Or is the World Cup every 5 years?)

The next cable package, Expanded Basic, would give me up to Ch82 but increase my total bill by $25! For only $10 above that I could go whole hog and get all 300 channels. They definitely set it up so you either settle for virtually nothing because that's all you can afford, or you say 'what the fuck', and pay out the arse for the top package because it's 3 times a better deal then the package that's only $10 less.

I could compensate by bumping my internet package down. I have the fastest connection offered. If I bump it down 1 package and bump the TV up to the top package that would increase my bill about $25/mth. I actually thought about this for about 5 seconds and then came to my senses. I have the fastest internet connection offered and I still get told by Netflix my connection is too slow and they have to keep adjusting my streaming movies. Why would I make that situation worse? And when I had housemates and we had DirecTV with 300+ channels, did I actually watch TV? No. I usually had it on one of the digital radio station. I can get thousands of radio stations online so why should I pay for it? The only channel I consistently watched was The History Channel and, though I do miss it dearly, I can live without.

And I'll keep telling myself that...