Lexmark

This was a really random off the wall photo. 

After two months I decided (on my day off) to hook up the new printer to the new computer.  Who ever said I worked quickly.   

So, I take the printer out of the box (Lexmark brand) and there on the instruction it says there may or may not be a USB cable.   You could bet your bottom dollar, there was not.   I looked at my cables and I do not have one that will work.   

On to the printer.   Instructions untape and open scanner lid to install the ink cartridge.  AT the bottom of the box do I find ink cartridges???   NO there is only a color cartridge........Who in their right mind would only pack a color cartridge.....  The answer is obvious LEXMARK... DOES.    Not only can I not attatch the computer to the printer, I can not even print either.   I inspect the fine, miniscule print on the glassy, colorful box and there it tells me, in print 1mm high, that the black cartridge is not included.

I am so irked at them, that I am composing my email, nasty gram to send to the idiots who make this printer.  Also, I am telling everyone I know about this.   Talk about cheap, this is really the heights of cheapness,  because I can print information with black, but what in the hell can I print with color as the only choice.   I know it was no mistake, it was a plan to extort more money from the customer.

Cold

This was taken, I think, during the Blizzard-Perfect Storm of 1993.  It was one of the few blizzards that I remember.   It just kept, going and going, and going.   And following that it was so damn cold that school was out for one to two weeks.  The daughter could tell you, I don't remember. 

At the end of February I am begining to get a little stir crazy.  I am hating snow and cold weather.   It is to get down to 14F tonight and the wind is blowing.....   Tomorrow is to be even colder.... One of those 90F days in July are looking mighty good right about now.

The photo was taken predigital, preauto exposure and pre auto focus.  I think the glare from the snow somehow altered the exposure meter, or maybe the exposure meter was not working because of the snow.   I remember that was the year that there was 2" of ice at the bottom of the driveway and I thought it would take till July to melt.  It did take a long time, maybe just till April

I am off tomorrow; the OR schedule was light and I will be home all by myself.  If you don't count the cats.    Maybe I will do something  wild and crazy like clean the house.   Or maybe I will just sit down and wait for the urge to clean has gone away.

'GONE MISSING"   Where did this saying come from??   Just out of the blue this or that  or someone or another has "gone missing"  What kind of grammar is that??   Even on the TV news they are announcing "gone missing?"    Is anyone else irritated by the slaughter of  the English language??

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Feed the cats

Yesterday was Symphony rehearsal.......the daughters, not mine.    She drives 1 1/2 hours to rehearse.    She was feeling a bit under the weather and asked me if I could go and do the driving;  this also serves the purpose of not having to use her gasoline.   Anyway, I left a note for Chuck to feel the felines.....  The get pretty pushy when they are not fed close to their routine time.

Chuck asked about the cat feeding procedures, as we  were  giving the call that we are leaving Johnstown.    (Just a cautionary phone call, we know how long it takes and know approximately when the arrival will be home.   Since the route is thru an area of PA that is sort of desolate.   Actually I think 70% of PA is desolate.   Giving a heads up when you arrive and leave is just precautionary....in case of breakdown or any other sort of calamity.

 Chuck:  "Why did you buy cat food that you need a can opener to open the can?"      Claudia: "I didn't buy any cat food that you would need a can opener ."    Claudia:   "I looked at all of them and none of them need an opener."       Chuck:  "It was right here."    "Here it is !!!!"    Claudia:  "That is a can of salmon, for humans not cats."  Chuck:  "I wasn't wearing my glasses..."

Someone at my house doesn't feed the cats nearly enough.   Andto top it off he would have been considered the King by the cats if they had eaten the people salmon.    I also think I will have a half hour inservice on the procedure of cat feeding.  

Sometimes, in the deep recesses of my brain, I think that the male of the species intentionally asks  redundant and rhetorical questions and feigns inability to do things, so the female of the species does not ask them to do that particular task again......

 

Picture:  Chihuly exhibit at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh PA.    It was a great show and people came from all over the world to see it.   I really loved it, but can't imagine anybody flying from the far reaches of the globe just to see this show.

Another Day

Another drive along Route 30 in Western PA.  This was long ago but not far away.  Today  was my day off.   Had a lot of things to do but none is it was too exciting.  Had a doctors apt in the morning and a "high maintenance"  hair appointment in the later morning.    My hair appointments are all high maintenance now days.

This is weird weather.  I wish it would either rain or snow; and stick to it.   It was suppose to rain last night and then turn to snow later on this day.   But this morning there was snow out there.   This was no major consequence except for the fact Chuck had an appointment to have his tire mounted on the new rim on the Corvette.    That mission was scrapped due to the weather.   Actually, he was outside early (07:00) pushing the snow off the driveway so he could get the Subaru out and the Vette in the garage. He did do that.  Now he has to wait for a sunny day to do the rim swap.

The heart program starts next week.   They had a perpetual open house all week.   On Friday my boss asked for volunteers to staff the open house, why would you ask for volunteers the day before an event.  Well I already had plans, and that was to sleep in and do nothing.      The other thing about this is that the OR staff was going to get paid for their time and mine would have been gratis.........Glad I was busy.   And on to something else.

I have found the names of my grandfathers (German..Willi) parents.   The information is coming from Germany and I hope to get this info this week.  He was born in Quickborn Germany and I also wanted to get a copy of a marriage certificate and his sisters names and dates of birth.   The Germans, in their usual organized fashion. had no record of the family name (other than Willis birth) in their records.     I am now wondering if she had got to Quickborn to visit some one and went into labor and had him there. 

When it comes it will list the town that the parents were from and I can proceed from there.  I wish I could speak German, this would be much easier.

 

 

Who lives in the closet..................

Snollygoster (noun)

Pronunciation: ['sna-li-gah-stêr]

Definition: (Regional slang) An unscrupulous but shrewd person; a hob-goblin that preys on naughty boys, girls and poultry (sometimes called a "snallygaster").

Usage: Occasionally we offer a local dialectal variant like today's word just to share the fun it brings with the entire English-speaking community. Today's word seems to have originated in the Pennsylvania-Maryland area of the Eastern United States but occurs widely now in the Northeast. There might be a place for it in the general vocabulary.

Suggested Usage: Although dictionaries often claim this word refers only to politicians, in New England it sometimes refers to extremely bad storms (Nor'easters). The common thread seems to be something noxious and deceptive, "Hubert hired some snollygoster to put siding on his house and now it's falling off and Hubert can't find him anywhere." Of course, never say anything like this to your children: "Hetty, if you don't put your toys away, the snollygoster will get you and your pet chicken!" She might try the same tactic on your grandchildren.

Etymology: In some areas of the Eastern United States, parents keep their children ruly with warnings about the evil snollygoster or snallygaster, a nocturnal monster that is part bird, part reptile, and pounces with incredible swiftness when least expected. The name apparently derives from Pennsylvania Dutch schnelle geeschter "quick spirit," a dialectal variant of German schnell "fast, quick" and German Geist "spirit," the latter akin to English "ghost." "Snollygoster" is apparently the last stage of the progression schnelle geeschter > snallygaster > snollygoster

Could this possibly be the thing that goes bump in my closet??????

 

Education

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don’t. It's knowing where to go to find out what you need to know; and it's knowing how to use the information you get."
William Feather

This says a lot,  you don't get credit for having brains,  you get credit for using them.
-----

Out of kilter when I digress.

Kilter (noun)

Pronunciation: ['kil-têr]

Definition: (Slang) Alignment, balance, good general condition.

Usage: Another slang word with a meaning similar to that of "kilter" is "whack." If something is out of kilter, it is somehow misaligned, out of balance. If it is out of whack it is not working correctly, possibly not working at all. You can bring something back into kilter but we cannot say that we have brought something back into whack or that it is in whack. "Out of whack" is an absolute idiom allowing no variation. Now, let me take a whack at distinguishing between "kilter" and "whack."

Suggested Usage: "Kilter" tends to be favored in reference to abstract objects: "The number of seats in Congress occupied by women is out of kilter with their proportion of the general population." You could say, "Your job is to keep the car engine in good kilter." In the U.S. "whack" is preferred with concrete objects, "I can't mow the lawn today; my back is out of whack."

Etymology: U.S. variant of "kelter," dialectal term found from Northumberland and Cumberland to Cornwall since the late 17th century (OED). The origin is unknown. Is it relevant that another meaning of "kelter" in the North Country is "money"? "Whack" is probably onomatopoetic (imitative) given its frequent expletive use: "Whack! The ball sailed deep into left field." The idiom "out of whack" is probably the origin of wacky "crazy" since both "out of whack" and "wacky" originate in the U.S.

Possibly, how Chuck feels when I digress.

Also known as Claudia changing the subject.

  Word of the Day Digress (verb)

Pronunciation: [dI-'gres]

Definition: To stray from an expected course, to move in an irrelevant direction.

Usage: "Digress" displays a full array of secondary derivations: someone who digresses is a digresser, the activity is a digression, and the behavior itself is digressive. "Digressively" is the adverb.

Suggested Usage: First, this word has a rather direct, physical sense: "On the way to the opera Downham Martini digressed slightly to a pub for a bit of light refreshment." However, it is probably more commonly used to refer to a metaphorical straying away from the subject at hand, "Could we stick to the topic of the new project, please, without digressing into how much it will promote our careers? Thanks."

Etymology: Latin digredior, digress- "to separate, part" based on di(s) "away" + gradior "to step, walk." The Latin root derives from Proto-Indo-European ghredh- "to walk, step, move," also the source of Sanscrit kra-, kram "to go" and German schreiten "to step" and Schritt "step." The Latin root is also found in English congress (come together), ingredient (what goes in), transgress (to step across the line). We also have "grade," "gradual," and "graduate" from related Latin gradus "step," the noun from gradior.

 

See Chuck, there is a word for my changing the subject when I feel that particular conversation is over....

Yet another antique store.   This one is on Rt. 30, I think in Shellsburg PA.   This was also long ago and far, far, away.

This weekend was far too fleeting......Yesterday hot trip was an outing to the library.   You can borrow all kinds of books, but they have to be back in one wek.....   You need to read fast.

Then today, my lady chums and I went for Sunday Brunch at the Grand Concourse Restaurant.

Muer Seafood Restaurants: Charley's Crab, Big Fish, Grand Concourse, Gandy Dancer, River Crab, Meriwether's

 

http://www.stationsquare.com/grandconcourse/history.htm

 

The food was excellent and really, sensory overload in the food department.   There are stations set up all over the restaurant and you can dine to your hearts content.   This would be a guys dream, for an all you can extravaganza.    The ladies ate well but not to the point of stuffing ourselves.

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Enthusiasm

"Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, but an eternal now does always last."
Abraham Cowley

I guess Abraham is down on the enthusiasm scale..................

Enthusiasm.............

"Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas."
Henry Ford

All that enthusiasm can be downright exhausting...........

Here is another picture.   It was taken, I think, in Bedford PA.  I suppose during one of my Fall Foliage Trips in PA.

Another in my collection of Antique Shops.  I used to do a lot of driving and stopping here and there but that has pretty much gone by the wayside with the escalating price of gasoline.  

This is another of my pet peeves.  In fact, it may be the biggest.   I strongly feel that the price of barrels of oil should not be based on speculation.   If there is threat of an storm the price of gas goes up.   I drive a 4 cylinder car with a manual transmission and plot all my trips in order to save on gas.   I can not conserve much more.     In American, the use of mass transit is not very high because it is not available to be user friendly.    I live four miles from my work and you can not get there riding a bus.  You can't walk either because there are no sidewalks and you would get hit and killed on the road trying to get there.  

The local governments will spend obscene amounts of  money financing millionaire ball parks and arenas and the hell with mass transit.   The Port Authority of Allegheny County budget runs in the red because more that half of their income goes to finance Golden Parachutes of the retirees in management and pay for health care of the retired workers.    As a health care worker I resent paying for things of others that are not aviable to myself, or any other health care worker.

Still tired

For the life of me I can't really remember where this was taken.   I think possibly somewhere in New England.   My daughter and I ,my  sister and her husband and their sons drove to Maine.    It was reminiscent of the Griswalds Family vacation.

This trek started with a trip across PA and then into New York.   My sister and her family drove the truck camper and my daughter and I drove in my little red Jetta.   We stayed in a campground somewhere in NY.   We were so exhausted that just to lie supine was a treat.   Going thru New York and Connecticut was so busy and so much traffic.  

What I found amazing was the drive up Route 1, along the coast of Maine.  The scenery was spectacular; the seaside towns so quaint.   I would love to drive that route again.   The thing that amazed me and I remember to this day was the crosswalks.   If a pedestrian even was thinking about crossing all traffic halted till they made their decision and crossed.  

We camped at Acadia National Park.  We had the truck camper and a tent.  Although we were on an island, the daughter refused to sleep in the tent for fear that she would be trampled by a moose.  We didn't even see a moose.  

Another interesting thing about Maine was the lack of airconditioners in the stores.  I guess when it gets to 80F  it is a virtual heat wave.  I suppose it doesn't happen very often.

I have a lot of pictures of that trip and will post some of them in the journal.    I would like to go there again too.   I guess my ideal vacation would to leave in September and travel thru New England and watch the change of season.  Guess that is one for retirement, hopefully, the daughter will be out of the house by them.

The week in Acadia was great.   The trip home was somethi ng else.  The first night we went via  and camped New Hampshireat Franconia Notch State Park.   Franconia Notch State Park - Lincoln, NH

What I was impressed with was The Old Man in the Mountain.   After being there for eons one night he just crumbled and fell.  I really felt bad about it and I had only seen him one time.

After that we went thru upstate New York and spent the next night somewhere in the Adirondacks we stopped at another park.  It was raining, damp with the humidity at about 150%.   Outside were mosquitos the size of sparrow and they wereall queuing for the fresh arrivals.    My brother in law had a migraine and was moaning with his head resting on the steering wheel.   It was quite a night.  We did survive that evening and with a minimum of bites, but we only went outside to go to the toilet at the bath house.

The last leg of the trip was into PA and across The northern tier via Route 6. 

VisitPA :: Pennsylvania Passages :: Route 6

We were all glad to get back home.   PA is really a beautiful state.   In the middle of the state is a lot of wilderness.   It is said that it is one of the few places for observation of the stars with no light from the cities.  Another place was Arizona but I can't remember where the third location is for star gazing.  Guess I will have to goodle that.

 

Whoa

I have come to the realization that working four/10 hour days makes me cranky.  I would not want to make a career of that.    Getting up at 5 AM is soooooooooo old hat.

I think the reason I am tired and cranky is because yesterday my daughter drove to Johnstown (1 1/2) hour trip to rehearse for the orchestra.

 Johnstown Symphony Orchestra 

She has a Music Degree and is a Violist.   Each Monday they have rehearsal and she drives into the Western PA mountains.   It     always snows in Johnstown.  Except for one week in July.......   Well yesterday it was snowing.   She will give me a call and tell me that she is leaving.   Last night it was past the 1 1/2 hour mark and needless to say mother was wide awake and worrying.   It took her 2 hours to get home.   She said between Somerset and New Stanton is would alternate blizzard like conditions and no snow.   So, even after she got home I was still wired and took about another half an hour to fall asleep.

Enough of typing in this journal I am going to bed.

 

 

I just found and love Lillian

It's a sad day when you find out that it's not accident or time or fortune, but just yourself that kept things from you.

 

Lillian Hellman

 

Nobody outside of a baby carriage or a judge's chamber believes in an unprejudiced point of view.

Lillian Hellman

 

-

The past with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, it punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.

Lillian Hellman

 

Nothing, of course, begins at the time you think it did.

 

Lillian Hellman,

 

I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.

Lillian Hellman,

 

Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.

Lillian Hellman,

-

Like it is

Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.

Lillian Hellman

Now there is a woman who tells it like it is...........................

This house looks like a setting for some zombie flick, or perhaps, a place to go looking for vampires at sundown.   Did you ever wonder about that???  Why in the world would someone go looking for vampires when the sun is going down.    Maybe they ate garlic for supper and feel safe.

My stint of second call is over and I am happy to report that I didn't get called in.   I would not mind working during the awake hours, but, this getting called in at night is the pits.

Back to work tomorrow, I have a senior anesthesia student, so she will do the setting up.    It should be an easy day for me.    The anesthesia students are now Masters prepared.   That means you have to have a BS degree, two years critical care experience, and then apply to the grad school for anesthesia.  This schooling takes for 2/1/2 year to 3 years depending on the program.  

The Einsteins in the colleges are now on the path to make all the Advance Nurse Practioners a PhD program.   Who in the hell would spend all that time and still have the title of RN.   If you are smart enough to do all that advanced degree requirements you might as well go to med school.   The college have decided to put a lot of the professional degree requirement to the Doctorate level.   The pharmacist are now in a PharmD.   They spend 7 years in school and have a Doctorate degree and $200,000 in debt.   All the others are going that way too.   The only ones making money in this deal are the colleges, and the losers are the people with astronomical school loan bills, which many will be paying till they retire or die, which ever comes first.

This spooky house was in western PA.  It has been torn down and replaced by another.   I ofter wonder how old it was and who had lived there.  I will never know. 

Made me Laugh

Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and when it is bad, it is better than nothing." - Dick Brandon (American Computer Scientist, Writer)

Words of Wisdom

I can give you a six-word formula for success: 'Think things through, then follow through. - Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) Scottish Author, Novelist, Historian

 

This is as applicable today as it was two hundred years ago.

Ancestors at McConnels Mills circa 1928

This is also a picture of the same park.   Most likely on the rocks that are pictured up the creek above the mill in the picture below.

 The people, left to right are.  My grandmother Anna Bartels, Grandfather Willi Schridde, mother Gerda Schridde Dowd, Anna's brother August Bartels, and some other relative  which I do not know her name.   This was taken circa 1928.

Saturday morning

This is Mc Connels Mills State Park Pennsylvania State Parks - McConnells Mill - PA  DCNR    click on the link to the left.

This is McConnels Mill State Park near Slippery Rock PA.  It it located down in a large gorge, not as large as outwest but pretty large for the area.  Just a little north of this location the area of PA was covered with glaciers during the ice age.  This area was not.

Today I am on beeper call.  That means I could or could not get called in for surgery.    I do not make any plans of any consequence for this day.   If I had plans that were really important I would get called in.   If I had the need for the extra money I would not get called in.   If you had just gone grocery shopping and need to put the things in the freezer I would get called in...That is just how it goes.

Nothing really going on, I guess you could say this entry is boring.

Well, I do have a complaint about Norton.   I bought a subscription and want to move it to the new computer.   I sent them an email and then they said in 48 hours I would recieve a reply,  it has been 96 hours and I had to resend the request.    I haven't gotten to the irate stage yet.   I am awaiting with anticipatory joy the information how to fix it.   By the time it comes I will be cursing and ranting to follow the instruction.

This photo was one where I had decided to paint Antique shops.   I got as far as taking the photos.   In order to paint I need a place to put my paper and my image and the watercolors.    I haven't found that place at home yet.    I would like to put all my stuff out and only cover and close my palate at night.    This would be necessary to prevent the paint from drying out and a procession of little cat feet.   They would walk on the newest and cleanest part of the carpet.   This photo was taken somewhere along the road of Routh 30 (i think) in western PA.

Although the medium is water color a lot of the colors are staining and would be impossible to get out.   Maybe after I retire I will give it a go again.    The main problem is finding the right teacher.   My style is sort of easy and fluid.   A lot of teachers are sort of "tight" in their paintings.   I like this to blend and just sort of going with the flow.   

My favorite time in painting is the Impressionist period.  

San Antonio TX

This is the River Walk in San Antonio TX.   I lived in Fort Worth for a few years.   I liked Texas except for the heat in the summer.   The River Walk winds thru the city and has restaurants and shops all along it.  The most surprising thing for me was the Alamo.   Picture in your mind an adobe style mission with a lot of significance in history.   It was the site of a massacre in 1836,  you can read about it here:

Untitled Document      

The amazing this is the shrine is in the middle of down town San Antonio....It is amongst all the tall bulidings and it is hard to get a shot without the skyscrapers.

I am miffed (still) about this printing.   It was going fine until I put the clickable link in it and evern though it is set for the above size it is not printing in thata size.    My sister had flown down for a visit and she and I drove here from Fort Worth.  I think it was a 2 hour trip, we did some sight seeing and ate authentic Mexican Food.   The food was good.

Off to play trivia in a few minutes.........That is one of my favorite things to do.

 

Maybe I will just make this my long ago and far, far, away series.  This was also taken in Slovenia, closer to the Austrian border.   It amazed me in Yugoslavia and eastern Europe that there are old castles and quaint churches everywhere.   I would wonder what had gone on there, and what about the people??   Maybe sometime it was good I didn't know, that was the time of tortures and things in dungeons.

Work was a bummer.  I exhausted my mental  energy  on the drive to work.  Slip sliding and going slow.    One of the employees fell and hurt her arm in the parking lot, no fracture, thank goodness.

I spent my morning doing cataracts.  This is a very easy procedure.  They come in and I give  sedation, heavy for the local injection and then let them wake up for the procedure, which takes 10 to 15 minutes.   The cataract is essentially emulsified and then sucked out.  A replacement intra ocular lens is inserted and after about 30 minutes the person can go home.   The bandage comes off and they can see.  It is really amazing.   Years ago they had that done and they had to stay in the hospital with sandbags holding their head immobile and then wear those very thick "coke bottle" glasses for the rest of their lives.     With the sedation the procedures is pretty much amnesic because of the Versed.   IT is short acting and they are "street ready" and OTD.  

Tomorrow is back to work and it is Trivia night.   Yeah................................

Winding down

This is another oldie but goodie.  It was also taken long ago and far away..   Same place as the previous entry but a few months earlier.

The wind is howling and it is precipitating, but it varies, from snow to rain and back again.   Back to work tomorrow, I don't know what I will be doing.  WE have a "hot line"  where you can call and get your assignment.  I guess if you don't like what you are doing you can call off.  LOL LOL    

I can honestly say that I have never called off because I didn't like my assignment.  But I have called off because I need a mental health day.   But I haven done that in years.   I am toying with the idea of when I finally decide on a retirement day I just may go and take my sick days.   If I don't use them they are lost.     Probably I won't do that but it is a thought.........................

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I decided to make it larger.

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WINTER SCENES

Here is a shot from long ago and far away.      This is one of my personally scanned photos.    The photo was taken in Krsko, Yugoslavia;  now, Slovenia.

The date was winter probablly 1978 or 1979.   My husband was working for a US company building a power plant there.   It snowed very hard and my friend Ruth and I went for a walk talking pictures.   As you can see the barns were an old style.   The interesting thing about this area of the world is that it looks like Western Pennsylvania.   I guess that is why so many of the people had emigrated and settled in PA, it reminded them of their homeland.

It is still snowing outside.  I took a few pictures but they are on the HP program and I have to figure out how to get them to the hard drive.   I know they are there but I don't know how to move then to a folder because I do not see an option for that nor a drop down menu of any sort to make a new folder. 

 

It is cold and windy out there.   This is a weird forecast.   It started out in the single digits yesterday and even last night it was about 9 degrees outside.  The snow started falling about 2 AM and the temperature is rising.   On my back deck it looks like there is about 4 inches of the white powder.   Today the temperature is rising and by the evening rush hour it will have crept up to about 31 and then the fun and games will begin. 

I am being irritated by our local borough.   Our roads have not been treated.  I think that is because the school and no one care if we can make it out and about.  The road is as pristine as early morning on a weekend.   The forecast calls for about 5 more inches of precipitation in the form of snow.  GRRRRRRR

But honestly it doesn't matter to me because I have a Subaru.   It is just the idea of it that makes me so cranky.

 

Ancestors

This picture has nothing to do with my ancestors, but, I suppose they at one time or another have eaten apples.

For the past year or so, and definitely not over two,  I started on the ancestor hunt.    This is something I have always have wanted to do, but never got around to it, until the sources of information were dead.     Stupid me !!!!!!

They are proving to be elusive.  I want to get further than the great grandparents.    The problem for me is that I am a first generation American.    That would be my mother who was born in Germany.    Interesting note, however, I have read that if one of your parents or grandparents were German born I am  eligible for German citizenship.  I know enough German to read a menu.

   But, the "guest workers'  live there and their children who are born there are not......  It bothers me that people come to the USA just to give birth and then they are not only eligible for citizenship but all the socialistic perks that come with it.   We have a what can you do for me society, not, I am here so now I will work and contribute to this great country.

What I need now is the place of birth of my great grandparents.   Since they were born in either Ireland or Germany it is proving a challenge at this time.   On a good note, I can read and understand English.

I am really thinking summer.....

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Sunday Morning

"Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough."
Groucho Marx

Old is always 20 years older than you are now.....

Where does all that email come from??  Every other day, if I don't check it, there will be 60 of them.   Why does everyone feel the need to send me twenty forwards of stupid things.   There are hundreds of email addresses from previous sendings.   None of which I care to know.    To top it off most of the recycled jokes, pleas, or threats of impending doom I am not interested in reading.    I would spam these fools but maybe, perhaps, there is the remote change it  might be something important.  So my solution is if it had FWD in the subject line, it is gonzo baby.

  When I get one thing from one of my chums, all the rest of them feel the need to send to all the same people.   Don't they read the names of the people who already have gotten it, and some send me things only with downloads attatched.  I NEVER OPEN DOWNLOADS  and I have told them too.   They ought to charge (perish the thought) people who send stupid things.   Another thing to consider is if I do not reply or send you those above dumb items, don't you think they would get the message that I don't want them???

When I switched screen names to my work one I noticed that the husband has 754 unread emails.   If he goes first I will have to eliminate the account or they will pile up forever.....

 

LAUGH OF THE DAY, MAYBE OF THE MONTH

Mail came today and that included a letter for Chuck on Lasik Eye Surgery.   I put it on his desk.   When he came home this morning he picked it and and mentioned it.    

I said "Do you want to get Lasik Surgery?"  

He said "I really need to get my hearing checked because what I heard was 'Do you want to get laid after surgery'."    I laughed so much, it was really a knee slapper.    My daughter said "I don't think the doctor would be happy, he may want you to wait."

Hit counter

What escaped me for a long time was how to scan these pictures and not have them askew.  Then I had an eureka moment, just align them with the edge of the scanner.   It only took about 500 scans to figure that out.    The problem was when it was sitting on the scanned bed, upside down it looked aligned to me.   

Nevertheless,  I have to hook up the new scanner, comptuer printer and get started again.   I have to go thru thousands more and just have been waiting for the inspiration to do so.   I have a picture of a man carrying a pig on a motor bike and I thought that would be interesting to post.    That particular picture was taken in Korea. 

I also have a lot of  slides to scan and  post but my sister expressed interest in doing that, so I just may give her several CDs and let her do the work and all I have to do is pop it into the computer.

She doesn't know about this journal so she is unaware of my plan.  

Back to the title of this entry.     I have had this blog since 2004 and it tells me I have 405 clicks on it.   I personally think  this is a gross underestimation because I have written in it more than 405 times myself.     Since I am somewhat of a stickler for accuracy I don't know how to change it....

 

Saturday

"The obstinacy of cleverness and reason is nothing to the obstinacy of folly and inanity."
Harriet Beecher Stowe

 

Stupid is as stupid does.  

Never underestimate the power of  stupid people in large groups.

Albert

"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means." - Albert Einstein

Guess he was smarter than he looked !!!!!!!!!

Irked by Microsoft

To be honest, I did not see anything wrong with Windows XP.    In fact, I liked it a lot.    So when the old computer had a untimely death I went shopping for a new computer and all they had was that freaking Windows VISTA,   Which I personally think sucks big time.    

My main aggravation with it is the fact  that when I run the curser over something it lingers for more than one nanosecond over an item it connects me automatically.  I spend way toooooooo much time unclicking what has no reason to be clicked in the first place.

Another annoyance is that the when writing, sometimes, way too many sometimes it will jump off the page and insert itself to be typing somewhere else. 

But the thing that irks me the most is yesterday I wanted to install my photo software and it doesn't not run on VISTA.    Not only did they make something that didn't need to be made, the also made sure that I would have to buy new soft wear for the VISTA.    This is the ultimate in planned obsolesce and I am quite irate about it.  SO, MICROSOFT THE NEXT COMPUTER WILL BE AN APPLE.

 

Something to add

The lights on top of the school buses are not the yellow to red to alert a person that the bus is about to unload.

These annoying lights are on top of the bus and it flashes, sort of like one of those strobe lights with the intensely brilliant pulsating flashes.   If a person had epilepsy this would be the sort of thing that could trigger a seizure.  

 I got a heads up on my laundry and cleaning.  My problem was that I didn't sit down fast enough when the urge visited me a second time to get some work done.    Guess it was inevitable I had to do this today.   Honestly, I am not going to over do it.  The urge hit me to sit back down and peruse the internet.  lol

Early morning just sitting around............

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others."
Samuel Johnson

It would probably be better to choose a more exciting group of chums.

I have off today.  The weather outside in western PA is 60F.   The wind is howling too.  Can you believe that.......This evening it is to go down into the high 20's or low 30's.    I will open the windows a little later today and air out the house...

On my agenda today is to go to the library, and possibly  clean the house and wash the clothes....   The library jaunt is the most exciting thing I have to do today.   The husband it at work and the daughter is going to work too.  

 Tomorrow is my Trivia day.   I knew that somewhere there would be a use for my extensive store of useless trivia.    I have found somewhere to utilize it, playing bar trivia.   Last week we came in first and won free bar trivia t-shirts.    You get the in the XL size and you can use them for sleep shirts.   I have an inexhaustible supply of them.

I haven't decided who was the chief of the rodent patrol as of this time.   I still suspect Jenny.

Todays musings

I still haven't gotten the hang of the alleged numbers.  I think there is an evil elf who is messing with the numbers.   

Today has been a miserable, rainy day.   Guess it could be worse, if it was snow we would have about ten inches of the white stuff.

Work today was uneventful.   I was assigned to OB.   You are either very busy or not busy at all.   My early morning consisted of going to the OB department and putting out fresh drugs.  

When you have an OB department you have to be ready in an instant.  Hence, all is in readiness.   Well, nothing happened.  Which was good.   In the early morning I was looking out the window while I was drawing new medication, I could see flashing lights on the highway.   What in the world was going on??   It appeared to be many police cars at attention.     On closer inspection (I had to,  we could be having some sort of disaster)  I determined that those flashing lights were those annoying, seizure producing, lights that they have placed on top of the school buses in PA.   I was wondering to they have them in all of the states????   

 It is almost like those retro 70ish strobe lights in the dance halls of years ago.   Guess I will be looking for tie dyes next.

There was a really retro shop in the college section of Pittsburgh called Teleropa (sp???)  I don't think that is spelled correctly.   When the daughter was in college she wanted to go there.   When we went it there was psychedelic posters, (Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison etc.) tie dye clothing, love beads and heaven knows what else. 

The daughter was really excited,  she asked:  "Wow, what do you think.???"    My reply was "I feel like I am a time traveler back to 1970"   The also had products made from HEMP.   She told me that the hemp was where they got marijuana from.  DUH,  I told he I grew up in the 70's and I really had heard about hemp before.    DUH.

Chuck and I were driving along on Sunday.   Good old Jim Morrison and the Doors were singing.  He said:  "Jim Morrison is dead, isn't he??"   "Yea, for the past 38  years..." said I....     I still haven't figured why he was buried in Paris??

Jim Morrison
Birth:   Dec. 8, 1943 Death:   Jul. 3, 1971   Singer, Songwriter. Born in Melbourne, Florida, the son of a naval officer, he adopted a bohemian lifestyle in California while attending UCLA while literally homeless, sleeping in any convenient place handy, friends couches, rooftops, in cars and under the pier at Venice Beach. A voracious reader of books, he started a rock band with fellow student Ray Manzarek after he graduated. They quickly found two more members, Robby Krieger and John Densmore. Dubbed with the name "The Doors" it quickly found fame in the Rock and Roll music world with their music constantly topping the music charts. Jim Morrison developed a unique singing voice and became the lead singer of the group. His life style leaned on mysticism while engaging in drugs, alcohol and bizarre behavior leading to many legal confrontations with the law. He grew tired of his fame and sought anonymity in Paris with his long time girlfriend Pamela Courson. They lived in various expensive hotels while taking in the usual tourist hangouts. His health was already in decline and he was excessively overweight. While in a bath tub, he was found dead at the age of twenty seven. He had been under treatment by a Paris physician who mercifully stated the cause of death as heart failure thus avoiding an autopsy. His death was kept secret leading to a conspiracy theory of a faked death. A Paris funeral service took charge and Jim Morrison was placed in a standard simple french veneered coffin and a direct burial was completed at the Famous Le Pere Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris. The grave unmarked for many years became much to the chagrin of cemetery officials a number one Paris tourist destination. A stone block was placed over his sealed grave after many attempts to unearth the grave were made by fans of the occult and mysticism who came from around the world, performed devil worship rites, sexual orgies and had plain drug parties at the grave site. They came over the walls at night. Security guards with dogs patrolled the grounds while cameras to survey the grave were installed along with night lighting. Litter, wine bottles, drug needles and graffiti were left behind. Souvenir hunters took every thing that could be uprooted or torn free. Officials have perceived the grave as a nuisance and suggest that when the lease expires a new burial site will have to be found. Three years later Pamela Morrison died from a heroin overdose at twenty seven, the exact age as Jim. Her body was cremated and interred in a mausoleum at Fairhaven Memorial Park, Santa Ana with the marker reading Pamela Sue Morrison. (bio by: Donald Greyfield)   Search Amazon for Jim Morrison   Burial: Cimetière du Père Lachaise Paris, France   Record added: Jan 1 2001	Added by: Anonymous   Added by: Gary Thelen   Added by: anonymous   There are 6 more photos not showing... Click here to view all images... Photos may be scaled. Click on image for full size. RIP... - Antonio DosSantos  Added: 2/5/2008 Rock on! - Wray Green  Added: 2/5/2008 - tlj...  Added: 2/4/2008 There are 4,610 more notes not showing... Click here to view all notes...
How famous or infamous was this person?

 

 

News Alert

News Alert.    There is a killer in my house.......I came home from work and my daughter informed me that  there was a dead gray mouse presented at the bottom of the steps leading to the basement.

It was in pristine condition and not a mark on its little carcass.   I think one of the suspects pictured in yesterdays entry were involved in the rodents demise.   It was wrapped and placed in the trash can by my husband.   The cats are mum on the subject.  

On the other hand it is nice to know I am protected from vermin invasion.

19:20 Tuesday evening.

  I have analyzed the situation.  Upon consultation with my daughter I have ascertained that the feline, known as Jenny, has a history of mouse capture and proven finesse with ending the life of rodents know as mice.

Monday, Monday

Above is Henry and Lucy.   I got them both from the Western PA Humane Society.   They are both 9 years old, wow they are getting up there.    Henry is the Hair Ball King. 

Lucy is grumpy, I think she was one of the seven dwarfs in a previous life.   One day I heard an advertisement  from the same Humane Society that they were inundated  with kittens in May of 2003 and so I got Molly:  Molly is a keeping a low profile kind of girl.   She tends to blend in and goes with the flow.   Then in 2005 my daughter returned home and brought along Jenny:

Henry thinks he is attractive to the females.  He doesn't realize that neutered he doesn't hold any attraction to the girls.    I wonder if he has some aberant testosterone producing tissue.       Sorry Henry I didn't do it.

aoljaolPictureAdd, aoljaolPictureAdd_3

This is a picture of all of the sibs and the outlaws who went on vacation last summer.  Guess who I am.    LOL

Back from dinner, we had a good time and the food was good, but to expensive to suit me.   What I really hate is paying $8.00 for a glass of wine and it comes 1/3 full.   I wouldn't have liked to pay for the glass 3/3 full.  That is outrageous.  Guess I may take to drinking at home, or eating out less.   Not really but it quite annoying.

Back to work tomorrow.  I soon have to hit the rack.   I have spent most of my adult life getting up at 05:00 just to go to work.   My first case starts at 07:15 so I have to get ready early.   AT the age of 61 I would like to have been retired by now, or at least be part time.    The whole problem is that people who work in health care do not have health insurance when they retire.  I jokingly said I am working for health insurance but in reality it is the truth.    To buy it from now until I can get Medicare it would cost me at least $1,000/month for my husband and I.   And the pensions from hospitals are not very good either.    There must be some other perks but I haven't discovered them yet.   Well, maybe a discount on surgery but you have to get sick to use them.

Enough for today so good night.....................

aoljaolPictureAdd, aoljaolPictureAdd_1

still sitting

I was hoping I would feel better today after observation of some color in my life.    Today we are going to have dinner.    I started reading my old journal entries.    Reading about my trials and tribulations with my fathers death and the difficulties with settling the estate made me realize I should have been on antidepressants.   

I am glad that part of my life is over.   A lot of people my age are just going thru what I have already done so.    My troubles were not with dementia but rather malignancies, and weird medical conditions.    From 1995 till 2004 was a roller coaster of declining health and problems to be faced and solved.    Some how we all muddled through.   I wonder how we did it, I guess we did it because it had to be done.

 

Anybody we know???

Word of the Day Pansophist (noun) Pronunciation: [pæn-'so-fist] Definition: Someone who leaves the impression that they know everything; a "know-it-all." Usage: Today's noun may be used as an adjective, too; the noun is "pansophy" ['pæn-sê-fi]. Like pansophists themselves in the era of specialization, this word has become a rarity. It does retain a certain usefulness though and, like all our words, provides a few more threads about where we come from and how we have changed. Suggested Usage: Don't you hate to hear yourself use hyperhyphenated words like "over-the-hill," "stick-to-itiveness," "johnny-come-lately"—ugh! Now you have a subtle cerebral substitute for that old hyperhyphenated "know-it-all:" "That supercilious pansophist doesn't impress me at all with his encyclopedia of trivia." Unfortunately, the age of pansophy and Renaissance men has passed; there is simply too much knowledge today. Etymology: Greek pansophos "all-wise" from pan "all" + sophos "wise." The noun from the latter, sophia "knowledge, wisdom," appears in "philosophy" from Greek philosophia "love of knowledge." We have long since forgotten that "sophisticated" is supposed to mean "knowledgeable." Interesting fact: the patron saint of the Roman Catholic Church is the masculine St. Peter (the rock) while the Eastern Orthodox Church's patron saint is the feminine St. Sophia (wisdom). –Dr. Language, YourDictionary.com

Probably descibes 90% of the population of the world.....................

 

"Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm."
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I wish I could catch some enthusiasm.

It is really difficult to take pictures of fish.   I guess I would compare it to taking pictures in a window.   You have to leave the flash off or all you will get is a picture of the flash.    What I really find funny is people in a stadium taking pictures of the field and trying to get it using their flash.   To me that is sooooooooo funny.   The flash is only good for a few feet..................but they still do it and probably will continue to do it till the end of time or the end of flash photography.

 

aoljaolPictureAdd, aoljaolPictureAdd_1

"History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid."
Dwight D. Eisenhower

It seems lately it has been entrusted to the stupid.

aoljaolPictureAdd, aoljaolPictureAdd_1

Sunday morning.

I have decided to go back to adding photos.   I sort of missed them myself.    I haven't taken any lately.   Taking and posting photos of gray and bleak of the winterscape might land me in the psychiatric ward on concerns of depression.  I am not depressed just tired of  winter.    Of course, when it is roasting hot I will be tired of 90 degree, hot and humid  weather too.

Another AOL concern.   I keep hitting the BOLD button but it keeps turning itself off.   What exactly do those numbers mean, you know the ones next to the fonts????   One would think that 14 would be large, but this looks like small to me.   

This afternoon (how in the hell did the bold pop up our of nowhere now??) we are going out to dinner with my brother and sister-in-law.   I can't remember where we are going.   Guess it would be nice for me to give them a call or send an email or root thru all the old emails.   

It seems that everyone in this country is agog about the football game today.   Am I in the minority???,   I REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT IT....AND I AM NOT GOING TO WATCH IT.     I don't even know what time it is on. 

 I don't understand with all the problems in this country peoples main concern are sports.   OR maybe it takes their minds of the trouble with the country, or maybe they are just in denial....

 

 

 

Things aren't always as they seem..........

THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE FUNNIEST THINGS I HAVE SEEN IN QUITE A WHILE.

Blind Kiss Test - AOL Video    click on the link to the left...   I tried to cut and paste just the video but what I got was a sad, frowning yellow icon.

Groundhog Day

I hate groundhogs, especially the one who lives in Punxsutawny PA.    Every year on February 2, they drag that hapless rodent from his hole for his prognostication.   Only one year he supposedly, did not see his shadow. 

Although the winter has been on the milder side, I am ready for spring.   We really have not had a major snowstorm this year,  I don't think we had one last year either.  

I went to the Cardiac Anesthesia Conference and it was quite good.  The speaker all had their native language as English and everything is now presented on Power Point.  The Power Points graphics are all in color and it is much better than those boring black and white slides.  

I still , and never will be, looking forward to this new development.   Some people came from as far away as Erie.   That is a two and a half hour drive.   I would have stayed over night tonight if I had done that.   It was well attended and quite informative.

Groundhog Predicts More Winter Weather

Posted: Saturday 02/02/08 10:42 PM EST

Filed Under: Nation News

The rodent was pulled from his stump by members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle -- top-hat- and tuxedo-wearing businessmen.

Photo Gallery

Keith Srakocic, AP

No Early Spring,
Says Groundhog

1 of 5    

Punxsutawney Phil didn't like what he saw outside his stump: the rodent predicts six more weeks of winter, according to his handlers.