Yep. There it is.

Again.

World's Cleanest Dime?

This has to be the sixth time this dime has run through the wash. I keep finding it in the washer, putting it in my otherwise empty pocket, and forgetting it's there, so it ends up going along for the ride in the next load the pants I'm wearing are in. Is this destined to go on forever?

Accidental Coke Nail

I clipped my nails the other day. I must have gotten distracted somehow, though. Today I noticed I have a "coke nail". :P

Had A Filling Break

I just got back from the dentist. This is the piece that broke loose. (Much enlarged.)

It was an old metal filling, dating back at least to my teen years, if not pre-teen. I'm nearly forty so I guess my folks got their money's worth. The dentist put in a new-fangled type filling that matches the tooth. She put it in in layers with a syringe and the assistant held a UV light gun up to it to cure it. Pretty neat.

Lining Check and Restroom Adventure

Lining Check
We went to the doctor this morning to do a lining check in advance of our frozen transfer. It was a little thinner that he'd like, so he gave her some estrogen patches. She put one one before we left. I later joked with her that all the weight she's been losing lately has been from her deflating, but now that she's patched we can pump her up again. We talked with the doctor about the embryos and their chances, and he thinks it's unlikely both wouldn't survive the thaw. If neither does survive, the fertility center will call the dr.'s office and they'll call us before we leave. (For those just joining the blog, it's an hour drive there - a long way to go just to be disappointed.) Just in case, we'll call ourselves before we leave. We also asked if the embryos' surviving to blastocyst stage boded well for their viability. He said that while some abnormalities would prevent them from getting that far (implying they don't have those particular abnormalities at least) there was plenty enough abnormalities that would cause them to arrest later. That's the possibility every couple doing IVF has to deal with anyway,though , so there ya go.

Restroom Adventure
After we returned to Secret Headquarters I soon had to use the restroom. Long drives will do that to a person. We share a restroom with the rest of the floor, and since we're on the first floor and the restrooms are accessible from the lobby we share them with pretty much everyone in the building who can't wait to get up to their floor, or who don't want people who know them to know how much they stink up the things. It wasn't that big a surprise, then to find that the toilet hadn't been flushed. What was a surprise was that it was clogged with what if I didn't know was a turd I would have sworn was a sweet potato.

I tried flushing several times in an attempt to erode it enough to flush away, letting the water slowly drain past the monstrosity between attempts. It didn't work. So I went and got the plunger from the ladies' room, figuring I'd make short work of the thing. Nope. It disappeared from view, but apparently lodged somewhere farther in. I pumped the plunger repeatedly with no apparent effect. I pumped it harder and some of the water splashed on my hand and the leg of my jeans. Ick!

After that I slowed down a bit and eventually got things flowing. I finished my pressing business, washed up, and returning to Secret Headquarters I globbed some alcohol gel hand sanitizer on the leg of my jeans. Hopefully that was sufficient.

Local Wind Damage

We were relaxing in the local non-Starbucks coffee shop early this afternoon after a walk around town on this windy day, when a fire truck and a couple police cars went by and stopped just on the next block. We didn't see any smoke and just assumed someone had a kitchen fire or smelled gas or something. After we finished our coffee we went out to discover what the fuss was about.

The roof of one of the buildings had half blown off, and there were broken bricks on the ground. The police were blocking off access with tape when we arrived. I got some pictures. This was the best view of the roof damage. It was blowing up from time to time. I tried to get video, but never got it more than just sitting there wobbling a bit.

The building is, perhaps ironically, the Cafe New Orleans. I suppose it might end up with a blue tarp roof until repairs can be made. I asked a policeman what was upstairs, since sometimes people live above the businesses. He said it was a club. Another officer quipped that it was a sun room now.

First Sign Of Spring

I was taking a few pictures in the yard today and spotted this beginning to grow alongside our driveway. I don't care what that groundhog says about his shadow, I say the first signs of spring are already upon us.

Celebrity Spotting

John Lithgow(sp?) at Pier 1

A Stranger Pranked

I've taken a few pics with my phone lately. I'd meant to post them but just never got around to it. Let's see if I can catch up this weekend.

Here's the first one. We spotted this car at the mall Saturday, but I didn't think to take a picture until we left. It's hard, if not impossible, to see in this pic, but written on the window is "This is our last prank." Also, there are mylar "good luck" baloons attached to the wheels and antenna. I'm guessing the victim works in the mall somewhere, but that was their last day on the job. Or maybe there's another explanation. Anyway, the cups and bowl weren't on the roof earlier in the day.

More pics later over the weekend, maybe one or two tonight. I could do more now, but I'd have to post them via the phone and I'd rather transfer them direct from its card to my home PC and save my messaging allowance. I'll likely put some of these in my Flickr photosteam, maybe with additional angles.

Playing With Yourself

(My wife just sent this to me.)

This will boggle your mind and you will keep trying over and over again to see if you can outsmart your foot, but, you can't.

It's preprogrammed In your brain!

1. WITHOUT anyone watching you (they will think you're GOOFY......) and while sitting where you are at your desk in front of your computer, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise Circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right Hand. Your foot will change direction.

An Embarrassing Mistake

I'm having Lean Cuisine shrimp & angel hair pasta for lunch today, but when I took it out of the microwave I was scandalized to find some of the shrimp were not cooked. I figured they were supposed to be pre-cooked. I decided to contact Stouffer's and had taken this picture to send to them. I was looking at the box to find their web site when I noticed the step in the instructions I had skipped. I was supposed to stir it and put it cooking longer. Oops! I finished cooking it and it's just fine.

Groundhog Day!

This is mostly a test post, but I may as well post something a little interesting. This is a groundhog that has been eating fallen apples from our trees. I tried to get closer by pretending to eat some leaves i picked up off the ground, but he (or she) would have nothing of it.

A Cooler Monitor

My wife's new monitor, a Samsung Syncmaster 971p, just came in. (Sans memory cards we also ordered, but that's another story.) I'll be setting it up tonight and maybe posting a review here later.

Anyway, she wants to replace her ginormous (it's officially a word now) corner desk with a smaller one. I was doing an image search on "corner computer desk" to find her old one and show an employee just how big the thing is (well, I couldn't very well tell them it's the same one the girl on JenniCam had) and along the way found a blog mentioning the two displays above.

They're pretty cool. The one on the left, manufactured by Sharp, displays three different images at once. Which one you see depends on which direction you view it from. Their press release on it suggests it be used in a dashboard display, allowing the driver to see directions, the front passenger to look up destination information, and the kids in back to watch a movie. I think it would also be cool in a crowded house where arguments over what to watch are frequent and heated. Just add headphones (bluetooth stereo, anyone?) and a couple extra tuners with independent remotes and you're good to go.

The one on the right is very cool too. Back when I was playing more FPS games I would have been drooling over the thing. The company who makes it, Seamless Display, makes flat display panels that fit together seamlessly (or at least with a small enough seam so you can't see it in the example pictures.) If you can't tell from the picture, the monitor is made of three panels, with the side panels joined to the center one at an angle to arc around the user. Sweet.

Another 'Stuck-In-A' Episode

A truck backed into the loading dock across the street. A forklift went in the back. It did not come out. Turns out the suspension was a bit soft and the ramp a bit high, so the forklift couldn't roll back over it. They have driven the truck away now, presumably to find a dock with a lower ramp.

Another Progress Check - And Winged Ants

Another progress check this morning. On our way out we found these winged ants (a few dozen at least) trapped in the dew on the car, their legs & bodies wriggling.

A Brief "Stuck-In-A" Episode

While we've been waiting out the storm the fire department paid a little visit. We met them in the lobby of Secret Headquarters (we're on the 1st floor of a building with other tenants) and were asked if we had called about people being stuck in the elevator. We told them we weren't aware of it but if there were it was likely them who called. They tried the elevator button and it was in fact stuck. After trying a few keys they got the door open. The car was stuck between the 2nd & 3rd floors, mostly on the 2nd. There were two people in it who said they were okay. (Other than being stuck in the elevator.)

I showed them the stairs and they headed up but the 2nd floor door was locked to the stairwell. I called the property manager and he said he was forty minutes away but on his way with the key. The firemen decided they couldn't wait that long - they were getting other calls. I called the manager again and let a fireman talk to him. They got his permission to do whatever they had to to open the door. In the end, they managed to get it open without breaking it. I let them use the phone again to tell the manager that the people were out and the elevator was still stuck, and off they went to their next call.

All in all it was more exciting to live through than to read about, I suppose, particularly for the people who were stuck.

Along the way I took this pic of the open elevator shaft. The orange thing is a wedge the firemen stuck in the door to keep it open.

Meanwhile, the storm is passing. Looks like another five minutes or so, so I better post this and shut down.

Later!

And Another Storm

No pic this time.

We're at Secret Headquarters this time. We were getting ready to go - I was beginning my shut down routine - when we started hearing rumbles outside. I looked up just in time to see the door blow open. I checked the radar and there's a line coming through, from the northeast oddly. Most storms come through here from the west if there's a line of them.

Anyway, lots of thunder right now as the big blob of radar-red approaches. We're waiting it out, but the lights have flickered out once already. Good thing we have battery backups on all the computers and the DSL modem & router. I'm keeping the flashlight at the ready.

The heavy rain's just hitting now. Hopefully this won't take too long. From the looks of its speed on the radar I'm expecting a half-hour to 45 minutes.

Battery is flicking on and off now. Better post this now.

See y'all later!

Storm

There's a thunderstorm passing by. I shut down my PC when it started hailing. (I'm blogging from my phone.) The pic is of lightning lighting up the sky as seen through our skylight. Took three tries.

Busy Little Ant

This weekend as we were leaving my sister in law's house we spotted this ant rapidly dragging a large cake crumb along the front walk. This was the best shot I could get before it went over the side into the grass. I got a bit of video of it struggling with it in the grass, but haven't sent it to my email from my phone.

Anyway, I believe this is my first picture post with a pic taken with my new phone. It's my first phone with a camera - an LG VX8300 - and it's pretty neat.

A Walk With My Wife - And Who We Met

As part of our attempt to get in better shape leading up to our attempt(s) at parenthood, we've taken to taking walks, ostensibly every day. This weekend the weather forced us into the mall on one day. As soon as we had entered, we were flagged down by my mother in law who was there at the Chick-fil-a with my sister in law. We sat down with them to say hi, and then, at my wife's request, I went and got the two of us some pizza from Sbarro. I also got me a mint cookies & cream shake from Chick-fil-a. (I'm so weak. Gotta be stronger than that. :P ) After lunch and a conversation that largely revolved around the Akon/Snoop Dogg song "I wanna ---- you", we went our separate ways and continued our walk, with a little store browsing along the way. (Didn't buy anything.)

The other two days we were able to do our walking around a 3/4 mile dirt track at the local university's athletic field. At the end of our lap today, we spotted a baby bird on the track. As we approached, it took off and flew slowly a short distance and landed on one of the railroad ties lining the track. After imitating its calls (and those of the birds in the tree above) for a little bit, I approached slowly and poured a little bit of water on the end of the tie, making a small puddle a few inches across. The baby bird hopped hesitantly toward the water, but when it got within a few inches of it I guess it decided drinking in with people so near wasn't something it was comfortable with, and it flew up into the tree. We smiled and hugged a little and went on our way.