Yeah, pics are working!

Alrighty... so the picture posting program "Hello" is once again accepting my images for upload... yeah! Oh.. I could have posted them the old fashioned way, put them up on a website somewhere and link them into the blog but that just seemed too much like work... Oh wait.. posting pics to websites IS alot of my work... huh.. no wonder it seems like... never mind..

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Home Sweet Home... and the front garden is looking pretty good, although I think we're gonna need to do a little pruning soon...
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Hello??

Well.. you would have gotten a new pic here today but "Hello" the program I use to upload the images doesn't seem to be working... so I guess I'm gonna have to come up with some text for you poor deprived readers... yes.. it's been a week since I posted, although I'm feeling pretty deprived myself.. the 'other' weblogs that I read (yes, there are other weblogs out there besides yours trulys!) seem to be suffering from a lack of postage this week as well.. Maybe it's the weather, which frankly has been soso lately.. pretty cold out there really..

So... what to write about... well.. considering I haven't been anywhere in the real world all week it's gonna have to be computer related or television related.. hhmm.. well.. we've already covered the weather... *sigh... yup... pretty cold out there... uummm.... well... ok.. so lets see if Hello comes back online anytime soon...

Later...
ok.. ok... give me a minute and I'll be back!

Friday the 13th...

Friday quickies:

Need mp3's? Check out the 50 free downloads from Relix Magazine and emusic! That'll give you a good head start on filling up that fancy musical cell phone...

Here's a thought: If you can have a debit card tied to your bank account, make a purchase online, and then instantly fire up your online banking and see the withdrawal is already been posted to your account... how come it still takes FIVE business days for a deposited check to clear? HELLO... your slowing down the business world here people!!!

Real-time online?? So.. I was looking at wwlp.com and their 'live' temperature gauge on the upper right said "46 degrees" as I was thinking.. huh.. that's not too bad for 6:30am... Rick from the storm team came on the tv and reported "the temperature is in the upper 20's out there this morning"... okie doke.. whatever... I should know better.. there's nothing like a news site that goes dark on the weekends...

The guy that killed his 8 year old daughter and her friend... uummm.. fire up the wood chipper... nuf said! One limb at a time...

Another frost this morning... I've had a giant jar of flower seeds for 3 weeks now and I'm just dying to get them in the ground and get them started... at this rate I'll be planting them in JUNE! I suppose it could be worse, No. Dakota got 8 inches of snow yesterday... ok.. I'll stop complaining...

Later...

Just another tough day at work!
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She's only a foot tall.. but when she stands on the back of the couch and towers over you with that "I'm gonna get you!" look in her eye she can be quite intimidating!
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It's apple blossom time at Atkins... I took these photos on my way down 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10 this morning... yes.. I asked permission to take the photos and frankly they looked at me like I was slightly nuts.. I'll have to let them know on my next trip thru what the pics were used for...
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Azalea's... LOVE that pink!
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Hey.. if anyone knows what kind of shrub this is.. lemmeno... I want one!
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5 Days & 6 Newsletters later...

Wow.. 5 days since I've posted.... bad.. bad... bad... but pulling 13 - 14 hour days all week will do that to you.. and that isn't even including drive-time, cause frankly I haven't been driving... I've just been holed-up in my home office - tied to my wireless keyboard.. which is a neat trick considering it has no wires to tie with... I shudder to think how far behind I'd be in my work if I was actually taking that lovely leisurely drive along 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10 every day... OH.. but I do miss it.. I'm sure the apple trees are in full bloom by now at Atkins... and I had such high hopes to stop alongside the road and snap some images and breathe in their lovely sweet scent... but it's just not gonna happen this week... I'll just have to take an extra-curricula ride out there this weekend and take the camera along with me..

Anyway... so whats been going on lately..

OH.. thanks to another of Masslives blogs I was treated to this pic. Really cool.. someone had a Fisher Cat up a tree in their back yard in Florence... Frankly I'll take my hawk... Fisher's are mean - nasty - agressive creatures.. although it would be really cool to spot one... guess this pic will have to do.. They are also very secretive - hard to find animals...

The Runaway Bride - so.. are you as sick of hearing about this narcisistic idiot as I am? I don't even know this woman and I'm pissed at her... I was actually worried about her... watched the newscasts about her disappearance... wondered where she could be and what may have happened to her... She wasted my time and I want it back!!! She's a 32 year old grown woman for pete's sake... a 12 year old might pull something like that and I'd say.. "Oh.. I'm just glad she's safe.. kids make mistakes.." but come on!! You know... I wanna be the City Clerk in her home town... NOPE... sorry... no marraige license for you... we don't allow people with the common sense of a 12 year old to get married... go GROW UP you idiot..and then come back and see me! HA!

And speaking of being out of touch with reality... working here in my home office I've been running the tv in the background as I work... I've actually (gasp) become quite a fan of Regis and Kelly.. Kelly really is quite the comedian... but Regis... my god... what rock does he live under... Everyday Regis pulls a couple of stories out of the news and does a few minutes rant about it... well... one of them he pulled was how the iPod has increased Subway crime... first he starts out with... how the crime rate has gone up on the RAILROAD... railroad??? huh??? what's a railroad? Kelly was able to translate that one thankfully.. you mean Subway? Oh.. yeah.. subway... then he proceeded to state that cell phones are the cause of the crime wave... cell phones??? I read that article and it's iPods that are the hot new item on the theives list... he then proceeded to discuss how he never uses his cell phone.. yadda yadda yadda... so.. Reg.. in his hepcat brilliance read iPod and thought it was some type of hot new cell phone... *sheesh... one of the few people that could actually afford an iPod and the 10 grand worth of tunes to fill it up with and he ain't got a clue... maybe I could write him a letter and convince him that I'm a disadvantage person that really needs an iPod so my sick mother will have a way to call me if she needs me and get him to spring for one of those spiffy new musical phones! double HA!

Well.. that's more than enough for today I think...

Later....

Baby Lilacs... Sensing a theme?
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Oh.. and it's raining too!
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Visitor - this guy was in my yard just 10 minutes ago (love the speed of the results with Digital!)... yeah.. it's grainy... yeah it's blurry... but it's also really cool and actually not too bad of a quality considering they were taken thru a window at 40times magnification...
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Kitty - ok.. so I admit it... this photo needed some 'touch ups'... black animals are notoriously hard to photograph they just suck up all the light and refuse to let it go... so this one got a little lightening and little scewing to get the steps straight... but other than the inverted Daffodils... what you see is what I saw.. see... saw... saw... see! Whatever....
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Unfortunately it isn't all Daffodils and Tulips out there...
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It's not all Daffodils in the yard... here is one of my two tulips! Considering at one time I had around 70 of them and now have all of 2 I had to take a pic before this one disappears too!
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Inverted fun with Daff's
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Silver TP redemption...

So our Silver Toilet Paper Award winner has made an attempt at redeeming themselves.. If you scroll down you'll see that US Airways was awarded the latest STPA for our horrendous flight down to San Juan and I quote "Will be hearing from me." Well they did hear from me in the form of a letter to their customer service... We received a very nice letter the other day from US Air apologizing for the bad experience... Our biggest beef was the lack of information (customer service)that was offered by the airlines as we stood in line for 3 hours and not one person took the time to explain what they were doing to help us!! I can understand delays but it shouldn't take 13 hours of traveling and 3 different flights to get from Connecticut to Puerto Rico!

So anyway, in fairness to US Air, I thought I'd let you know what they did to 'make up' for the bad experience... we got the nice letter and inside there were 2 vouchers for future travel with them for $150 each. Now we just have to use them within a year and before this airline goes belly up (they are already in Chapter 11)oh.. and not to mention if we want to take the chance of having another vacation start out badly at their hands... I'm thinking....

VEGAS, BABY! :)

Later....

It's all in your perspective!
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My Salmon colored Daff's... aahhh.. Spring!
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Signs of spring from around the yard... the grape hyacinth are blooming.. oh and the frogs are out!
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Side-trip - their doing a release of some of the overflow of the Quabbin... it's beautiful, exciting and seems a little wasteful all at the same time... all that lovely clear water pouring out of the reservoir!
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Docking in Barbados... that's another Royal Caribbean ship, one of their barefoot cruises where you can help hoist the sails if you want... notice the flying bridge on the side of the ship with our crew on it... very cool...
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When we finally got back to our cabin (that's me collapsed on the bed on the left of the pic.. happy but exhausted!) we had a really cool elephant towel animal awaiting us.. almost everyday we had a different animal awaiting us although one of them caused me and my husband to place bets on whether Alvaro our room steward had made us a swan or a sea serpent... He won... it was a swan... I still say it looked more like a sea serpent but hey... it was cute...
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A wood carving shop in St. Lucia (see story below)... check out the awesome flowers on the left of the pic... absolutely beautiful!
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St. Lucia w/ Mr. Ricky!

This port was one of the coolest and travel intensive that we did... starting with a 'water taxi' ride across the bay from the ship to the center of the town we docked in.. we were supposed to do the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ship sailing to a deserted island but our tour was canceled due to 'lack of participation'.. *sigh... that's what happens when the avg. age of your fellow cruisers is EIGHTY!... So we decided to wing it.. entering the center of town we were met by dozens of "take you on a tour nice lady?" people that offered taxi rides around the island... no thanks... no thanks.. no thanks.. the further we went into the island the cheaper the tours became... eventually we came across Vincent who offered us a 2 hour tour for 30 dollars each.. we managed to get him down to 15 each and off we went to get his taxi... upon arriving at his van we were introduced to "Mr. Ricky" our driver for the day... Mr. Ricky didn't speak any English as Vincent explained "I am the business man, Mr. Ricky is our driver".. seems Mr. Ricky doesn't speak english but he's got a taste for American cigarettes.. so I shared my smokes with him as he and Vincent took us on a LOVELY tour of their home...

We started up this HUGE mountain via many.. many.. switchbacks... very scary... as higher and higher we climbed... eventually the cruise ship in the harbor looked like it was an inch long!! About 3/4's of the way up this mountain Mr. Ricky quickly pulled over to the left and stopped in front of a little shanty type 'house'... as he jumped from the vehicle Vincent explained that this was not part of the tour but was Mr. Ricky's house and he needed to drop off a chicken for dinner.. as he walked to his little house with a mulit-million dollar view I glanced at the bag in his hand - that was no bucket of KFC in there!

Well our tour ended up more like three hours... with trips to a banana plantation.. overlooks at Marigot Bay (very gorgeous!).. a really cool and talented wood carving shop (look for pics of it to be posted above) with some of the most beautiful wood carvings that were only usurped by the beautiful flowers growing around the shop... a fort... and the governor's mansion.. our tour concluded not in the center of town where they had picked us up but right back at the pier in front of our ship... now that was SERVICE (not to mention saving us the cost of the water taxi ride back to the ship!) So needless to say Vincent (who turned out to be a GREAT tour guide - including our discussion of the national weed Ganji! ;) although he swore he only partakes once a day AFTER the work day is done! yeah.. ok... ) and Mr. Ricky got themselves a sizeable tip for the wonderful day they created for us... wonderful memories!!

Later....

St. Lucia - HUGE mountains - if you look in the lower left of this pic you can see the Empress! BTW.. if you click on these pics you'll get a nice BIG version of them!
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The top pool deck of the Empress.
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Day 3 - Here is lovely St. Kitts, imho, the loveliest island of them all, unfortunately we didn't see much of the island, my husband did a scuba dive and I did just the pier. Oh well, we'll just HAVE to go back and check it out more thoroughly!
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No takers?

So.. no takers on the "Baby Carraige, Plum, Sweet Alice" question? hurumph* Their the names of brooks that cross under Bay Road... I think we need a quickie post here.. lots of things have happened since the last posting...

The rogue wave - uummm.. scary... we'll be on the sister ship to the Dawn in October for our trip to Bermuda... and by comparison, the Empress is pretty much the same size as the Dawn... we were on Deck 9 (the wave hit as high as deck 10!)... sleeping with the sliding glass doors open... hanging out on our deck... even when we hit the rough stuff... OH.. but I haven't mentioned our 2 days of Rock and Roll yet... really scary...

Popedom... so there's a new pope... frankly I found the whole process very interesting... a real quick peek into the 'old boys club' mentality that the Catholic Church does so very well.. my favorite part was when it was reported that the cardinals sent for "20 nuns to cook and serve us our meals"... yah... 20 chefs and wiaters? no... 20 priests and nuns? no... Pizza delivery? no.... send us 20 nuns to serve us... bravo... and the church races ahead once again... maybe in another hundred years they'll start to see the light at the end of the tunnel of the Dark Ages...

I'd like to propose a new prison program... sleep over parties... yeah.. that's right.. Sleep overs... basically how it would work is any prisoner could request a sleep over with any one of a 'select' list of other prisoners. The specially selected prisoner would then be sent to the requesters cell for the nite for an evening of uninterrupted 'togetherness'.... I'd really like to see this put into place for that waste of space that took that little 9 year old girl down in Florida.. yup... make him President of the Sleep Over Party!

Anyway... now that I've creeped you all out... that's it for today..

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Me.. on vacation! (note the clear blue in the upper right corner... that's right... that's me.. out on my private balcony on the lovely Empress of the Seas... OH.. how I miss it!)
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A break from the Vacation...

with the week I've had it certainly has been a 'break from Vacation'... sad to say that nice calm "I'm on vaaccaaatttiioonnn" feeling is long gone and been replaced by "Oh man... I gotta get this done!!"... between server malfunctions (NOT my servers... thanks so much Purehost.com!) and client requests it's back to work with a vengenance!

Anyway... here's a little quiz for you Bay Roaders... What is the connection between these three things?
Baby Carraige
Plum
Sweet Alice
If you know the answer drop me a comment... unlike the last comment that some Porn Spammer decided to leave, I promise I'll leave it posted to the blog!

Later....

Lovely St. Barts
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Hold that ship!

Ok.. so I got ahead of myself... I started with the port-reporting before I mentioned our adventures in air travel before our arrival at the ship... so we'll take a step back a couple of days in time (fitting - spring ahead an hour and jump back a couple of days!)

OH.. and while we're at it... This our "Silver Toilet Paper Award" winner as well...



We haven't had one of those in awhile... (here's the scoop on the STP Award in case you missed it!)

So which airline is our winner?

US Airways!

We took our flight out of Bradley Airport into Philiadelphia - as scheduled - arrived in Philly for our 1 hour layover before our flight on to San Juan, PR - stopped in the airport bar for a quick beer and something that was supposed to be potato skins.... Then proceeded to our gate for our flight into Puerto Rico... only to find that our next plane had "hydrolics problems" (not good considering that's what makes the wheels go up and down - we may have needed those!) Now.. keep in mind here that the Empress was set to sail at 8pm with everyone needing to be on board by 7pm... Our original flight was scheduled to arrive in PR at 2:21pm - plenty of time for the 20 minute ride to the dock and to check in to the ship...

On our flight from Hartford we began talking with some of the others on board the plane and realized that a good deal of our fellow flyers were also all booked on the Empress... there were 61 of us on that flight to be exact!

So anyway... standing in the airport in Philly they had our plane on 'hold' until at least 3PM and even then they couldn't be sure if it would be fixed... now... 3pm (maybe) plus a 4 hour flight to San Juan, equals 7PM!!! So we wouldn't be arriving at the ship till 7:30pm - a half hour after the last "all aboard" call!! DAMN!! So US Air started scrambling... first we had 3 people helping us... then 2... then 1 guy that admitted "this isn't his job - and I don't know what I'm doing"... great! We were left standing in the Philly airport for 3 HOURS!! With no word of what was happening... Eventually they took 10 people and put them onboard a flight to St. Thomas with a further flight into San Juan... Finally at almost 3pm they announced they had gotten us all booked on an American Airlines flight into Miami and then on to San Juan... and we have 5 minutes to get to the AA gate... somehow... with our luck we ended up the last in line to get our tickets for the AA flight... and of course we got a 'new' guy that seemed like he entered our info into the computer at least 5 times! Finally he hands us our tickets and sends us off to gate A1... running down the concourse we watched the signs... A19.. A18... A17... damn... run!! Finally arriving at gate A3.. A2.. B1... B??? B1?? Where's A1?? Seems.. there is no A1 in Philly Airport!! A security guard suggested we try A11... back we go... A9.. A10.. aahh.. A11!! yup.. ok.. right place... but hey wait.. these are flight COUPONS.. not boarding passes... get your butts in that line and get your boarding pass! GGRRR!! ok.. so finally we're on board and it's off to Miami...

Arrival Miami... disembark the plane and begin to look for our connection to San Juan.. which leaves in TEN MINUTES!! Hello Security Guard - which way to gate B22? Oh.. it's a TWENTY MINUTE WALK - that way! DAMN... We ran a mile and half thru Miami airport wheeling our bags behind us... we began to notice our fellow cruisers along the way.. first a 75 year old Toronto woman - traveling alone.. poor thing.. so Mr. 9 2 Bay gallently took her bag from her to lighten her load... then a little further we came across an elderly couple who had no wheels on their carry on they were desperately trying to get to the gate with their heavy bags slung over the husbands shoulders - one on each side.. well.. let's help them as well.. I took one bag on top of my wheelie and Mr. took the other.. so we did a mile and half dragging 5 bags behind us!! Amazingly we just made it!!

Arrival San Juan... AA was kind enough to announce to the plane passengers that there were 50 of us trying to catch our cruise ship and could everyone let us off the plane first.. very nice of them.. unfortunately no one listened and we had to fight our way off the plane.. nice try tho! Upon arriving at San Juan terminal we were greeted by our Royal Caribbean representative who resembled a prison gaurd at a woman's hi-security facility! Now.. I'm a smoker... and I hadn't had a smoke since Philly.. so I'm pretty desperate about now - and so are a couple of our fellow travelers... so I approach Betty the prison gaurd for info on where we can go grab a quick smoke... only to be told "we going to gather here and then all go down to baggage" and then on to the ship - it seems Royal Caribbean decided to delay the sailing of the ship for us... smart move considering we all had the insurance and they would have had to pay to catch us all up to the ship in St. Maarten! "There is no place to smoke"... so I give it another try... "you don't understand.. is there somewhere we can go smoke?" So Betty.. in her infinite wisdom replies "We are ALL meeting here, and then going on to baggage... there is no smoking... anyway.. it's a good time for you to quit!" That was it.... as I got an inch from her face I began with "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!! I've been pushed around... thrown on planes.. ran thru Miami airport... etc.. etc.. etc... and finished with NOW WHERE CAN WE GO SMOKE?!" all the while my poor husband was whispering in my ear "Their gonna call security!"

Anyway.. long story-short version... We arrived at the ship at 8:30pm - a far cry from the 2:21pm arrival that we were supposed to have... ate a quick buffet dinner and went to bed! Our original plane arrived 5 minutes behind us in PR so we got our luggage (unlike the 10 people that were sent to St. Thomas.. they received their luggage 5 DAYS into the cruise!!)

Not the best way to start a vacation... and US Airways is hearing from ME!... whew... so... the Silver Toilet Paper Award.. yes.. definitely a worthy recipient...

and next we'll go on to Day 3 of our lovely Caribbean holiday!

Later....

Day 2!

Day 2 was lovely St. Barts! Playground of the rich and famous - and the occasional cruise ship! From what I understand even El Diablo Senor Bill Gates keeps a home and yacht on this island.. I also heard several stories about shop keepers closing up for the day when they see the cruise ship pull in to the bay, so very friendly!



I didn't make it in to this island - for a couple of reasons...

1. no dock - this one was just a tender, which means that the ship just drops anchor in the bay and these little boats come alongside and pick you up and take you to shore.. not quite ready for THAT adventure! and

2. Mr. 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10 had that look in his eye.. the one that says "I'm gonna see as much of this place as possible in the time alotted!" and did he ever! He met up with a Professor from a Japanese University "Sanoo" and the 2 of them did a power walk of 5 miles around the island - in 90 degree heat... By the time they got back they looked like they had been dumped in the ocean - pulled out - and wrung out till dry.. well almost dry!

So what did I do while they were off adventuring? Schooner Bar for what became known as "my breakfast"... Strawberry Daquiris... yummy!! It was a great mornin'... thanks to Delano my breakfast bartender from Costa Rica (I learned alot about his country)... I even participated in the "Geography Trivia Game" that was being held.. which was pretty funny considering I couldn't find my way around the ship... add 2 servings of "breakfast" before 11am.. and the fact that I was playing alone while the others were all playing in teams and of course the inevitable was bound to happen... I WON!!! Even with answers like "Tryptophan is the country to the east of France"... So what was the grand prize that I won you ask?? Well.. considering how much people spend to be on the ship you'd think the prizes would be awesome... you know value for value... so what did I win... a shiney Royal Caribbean PEN!!! That's right... a pen... I'll treasure it always!!


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Miss me?

So... I'm finally catching up a bit after my lovely 11 nite cruise of the Southern Caribbean! Sorry for the extended delay, but you know how it goes... take 2 weeks off and return to 4 weeks worth of work! OH... but it was so worth it! I'll give you a little taste of the caribbean blue water, white sand, and blazing sunshine that we encountered in our travels over the next week or so... We're just now getting an opportunity to go thru the 500 or so photo's we took on our trip and I'll put some of the better ones up on here...

Here was our first stop... Lovely St. Maarten!



I can't speak for the town, but we took a wonderful catamaran ride during which we spotted a Mother hump back whale and her calf! Awesome... and once in a lifetime... the 2 floated on the surface of the clear blue for 10 minutes while we circled around and got a really good closeup look... we then beached at Tintamare Island - a nature preserve - for some snorkling - sun bathing - and swimming... it's a lovely unspoiled island with high mineral content sand that is used in spa treatments... OH.. and did I mention "clothing optional"... yup... only one question remains after this lovely outing... Why is it that the people that should never appear naked in public are the only ones that actually do? YIKES!!

Later....

Take me back....

To St. Kitts

Vacation state of mind....

So it's getting really hard to concentrate here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10... getting SO close to vacay now I can taste that salty sea air.. or maybe I just went a little nuts with the saline solution when I put the contact lenses in this morning! Either way, the countdown has begun...

I've been doing alot of research here.. on cruises.. cruising.. and the various islands we'll be visiting.. only problem is.. during my vacation investigations I've come across several 'deals' that well... ya' just can't pass up... namely..

BERMUDA!!! I was able to find a cruise that leaves Boston.. yes... that's right BOSTON... The Norwegian Majesty... it does a roundtrip Boston - 7 nights - with 4 days docked in lovely St. George Bermuda... an inside cabin for 2... 1400 bucks! People.. that's $200 a night!! You can't get a freakin hotel room in Bermuda for that... never mind that you not only have an ocean view (if you go up on deck).. your IN THE FREAKIN' OCEAN!!! The view doesn't get any better than that... OH... and did I mention... they FEED you too! And very very well I might add... so... nope.. no extra cost for food... ok.. so your bar bill will be extra (but there's ways around that!) but $200 a night for a room and food for 2 people!! OH... and did I further mention... NO AIRFARE!!! That's right... drive on in to Boston.. park for $12/day and hop on board... Don't ya' just love a bargain!! I know I do.... that's why I booked us for the October sailing!!

Man.. I'm starting to sound like a travel agent here... but hey... when I find a bargain I like to pass it along... and for 7 nights in Bermuda at $100 per night per person WITH room and board... it doesn't get any better than that! At least now too when we take that long sad flight back from Puerto Rico at the end of this vacation - it may not be so sad... it'll be one vacation down and another one coming up to look forward to... I may just have to do this all the time... make sure I've always got a vacation in the hopper... hey.. everyone needs something to look forward to now don't they... :)

Later

Nature drive

It was a regular nature drive on the way home tonite on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10... spotted first was a huge hawk - soaring and swooping over rt 10 in Easthampton.. followed by a coyote - skating on the ice on the beaver pond on Rt 9 (in view of the Quabbin tower)... then lastly a herd of at least 20 deer in the farmers field on 9 in Ware... and of course... I haven't been traveling with the camera for the past couple of days... lighten your load and lose out I guess.... typical...

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Might as well...

More freakin' snow!! I might as well rename this blog "9 2 Bay with 9 2 10 INCHES" Oh.. but I still do have my eye on the prize! My cruise... woohoo! I did find a really cool bulletin board... dedicated to the 'web savvy people' that will be on our exact boat at the exact same time... it really is amazing what you can find out here in internet land if you look long and hard enough.. It's been really nice getting to know some of my fellow sailors before we board ship! Even better there are enough of us on there to get a free party out of Royal Caribbean... if you get 25 people to sign up they give you a little "Meet & Mingle" party... pretty cool... so now it's just a waiting game people...

yup... just a waiting game.... *sigh... ayup....

Later...

Fun in the snow!

Look at that smile!

Grand Openings weekend...

We took a ride out to the Hampshire Mall yesterday, it's "Grand Opening" weekend up and down the Mall strip... Dicks... Best Buy... Famous Footwear... Pier One... all are having their Grand Opening celebrations this weekend... boy I tell ya' the area has certainly undergone some major changes in the past year or so... the new Target.. Walmart... Barnes & Noble.. Linin N' Things.. Old Navy... Panera Bread... Mannys... Trader Joes... I guess all the marketing people finally realized that college students aren't the poor people they used to be - living off of instant noodles and the occasional pizza binge... nope... now it's the parents that are living off mac and cheese because we've sent all our money off to college with the kids...

Either way - it's kind of nice to see a revitalization of the old mall/flea market... and the added competition between the stores should be a benefit to us consumers... I'm not a huge fan of row after row of giant corporate box stores but I'm not opposed to benefiting from the price wars... so I may be a little shallow, but I'll look great in my new bargain-priced bathing suit as I float around in the kiddie pool sipping on the frozen margarita I bought with my savings!

Later...

My Boating Experience aka "People were screaming"...

ok... so if you follow along your fully aware that I'm off on a cruise... those who don't know me personally may not realize the irony of it all... so lemme tell ya'... I've been on a boat approx. 3 times in my life... settle back... get yourself a good stiff drink and I'll regale you with my stories of "Me & My Boat Rides"....

Boating experience #1: Those of you familiar with West Brookfield may know Lake Wickaboag... a medium sized lake... pretty... a nice place for a Sunday boat ride... A friend had just purchased a brand new 14 foot boat so we all decided to round up the families, kids and all, and take a nice float on the lake... it was a lovely clear day.. white puffy clouds... very serene... we loaded that boat up with 9 of us... and set off across the lake... about half way across the lake the sky began to darken... about 3/4's of the way across the lake it began to rain... by the time we were on the far-side of the lake it was thundering and lightening... NOT where you wanna be during a storm... so... back across the lake to the boat ramp we go... faster.. faster.. storm is really bad now... EXACTLY in the middle of lake... where the shoreline is an equal distance away in any given direction (as in too far to swim!) - pla.. pla... PLA.... the engine dies... we're dead in the water... the lightening is flashing... the thunder booming... and we've got no power... we had blown a fuse... it took 10 minutes, and the person with the smallest possible hands to reach into that dash and replace that fuse... luckily we HAD a replacement... I've never been so happy to be back on dry land in all my life.... UNTIL....

Boating Experience #2: This one was an ocean voyage... well.. ok.. a Harbor Cruise.. down in Hyannis on the Cape... I was down there for a weekend getaway with big Sister... sitting at breakfast, right at the Hyannis harbor, Sis says "Hey, lets do something touristy... lets take the harbor cruise and see the Kennedy compound"... I reminded her of my last boating experience (she was there) and said "I don't think so"... OH.. but she replied.. it's just a Harbor cruise.. they do it all the time.. what could happen.... not wanting to be a wet blanket.. I reluctantly agreed... yeah.. ok.. what could happen... so.. woofing down the last piece of my french toast we hurried to the ticket office... *phew... we just made the next trip.... For those of you who aren't familiar with this cruise, they have 2 boats.. the Prudence.. and the Patience... they take turns doing the tour... we happily boarded the Patience and set off thru the harbor... as we were motoring across the nice calm bay we encountered the Prudence returning from her tour... "Your gonna get wet!" someone on the other ship yelled... HUH?? What?? Oh well.. maybe it's raining out there... so on we continued to sail... just before approaching the Kennedy compound it seems there's an opening in the nice breakwater line... you know it's like a big damn that keeps the harbor water calmer than the open ocean... so we hit the opening in the breakwater... first we pitched left... then we pitched right... sitting on the top level of this double decker boat we were able to reach out and touch the waves... people were screaming... and I don't mean a little "oh"... I mean blood curdelling - from deep in the lungs SCREAMING!!! Turning around to see the captain in the wheelhouse I was looking for some reassurance that it was gonna be alright, but what do I see?? Just as we hit another HUGE wave the Captain - who was standing at the wheel of the ship went flying... hit the back wall of the wheel house... fell onto the deck.. and proceeded to just about roll completely off the ship... he caught himself at the rail.. jumped up and ran back to the wheel... OH.. so re-assuring... Well... we managed to get thru it... only to have to turn around and go back thru it again to get back to the pier where they promptly cancelled the cruises for the rest of the weekend!

Still with me here? ok... on to...

Boating Experience #3... Again... down in Hyannis... with the same Big Sister... this time it was "Hey... let's take a day trip out to Nantucket.." uummm... "no thanks, last time we got on a boat, people were screaming.." OH.. come on... it's a REALLY big ship, run by a professional company... what could happen? So.. again.. not wanting to be a wet blanket... I caved... alright... so off to Nantucket it is... other than some sea sickness (note to cruisers - DON'T play cards below deck when the water is rough!) our voyage to the Island was relatively uneventful... we had a lovely day and boarded ship for the ride back to Hyannis... approx. half way back... in the middle of the ocean... no other boats in site.. no rocks.. no nothing... the captain suddenly, for no apparrent reason, decided we needed to take a HARD LEFT!!! So hard that it was all anyone could do not to be pitched from their seats... WHAT THE?? nope... no explanation... did a whale swim out in front of us? was the captain letting a 10 year old drive the ship? who knows... all I know is it is just another boat ride in my short but exciting list of boating adventures...

So... now that you know my boating experience... wanna wish me a "Bon Voyage!"

Later....

Had enough yet?..

Ok.. so I'll stop torturing you all with the tales of my up-coming Caribbean vacation... I know it's hard on you.. what with the 4 inches of snow we got on Monday... oh.. and the inch or so we got last nite... I think we've all had enough already thank you... this weather has just been insane... it teased us with a few days in a row of 50 degrees... you could even see the grass... but then it turned it's back and dumped on us again.. so, I'll just keep my glee to myself... I won't mention that it's 87 degrees in Aruba right now... or that it's 81 in St. George's... and I certainly won't mention that wwlp.com is forcasting more snow for this coming Monday and Tuesday... nope... not a word... not a whisper.. not a snide little chuckle... not a single mention that I'm getting out of here for a break and your not... nope... total silence on the subject.... not one mention of 4 wheeling beach parties... my hunt for sun screen with an spf of 300 to protect my pasty white computer complexion from that strong Caribbean sunshine... nope.. not a word... not even about the 5 star catamaran sailing... oh.. and no mention of the 3 different countries my husband is going scuba diving in... nope.. no coral reefs... no brilliant blue beach water.. no palm trees... I wouldn't be that mean.... I'll just suffer through the next few snowstorms in quiet acceptance like the rest of you... nope... not a word! suckers! :)

Later....

Love those sales!

So.. we spent the weekend looking for 'cruise-wear'... and was it perfect timing! Love those Presidents' Day sales... we headed out to the Prime Outlets in Lee... not only do they have great bargains on a normal weekend... throw in the the holiday and we scored big... we pulled out of there with the back of the truck full of bargains... my favorite being the big floppy straw beach hat with mongo flower on the band... VERY cute.. all I need now is a pair of Jackie O sunglasses and I'll be stylin' in my own portable shade on the beaches of St. Kitts... oooo la la...

Anyway... so now that our suitcases are full... oh... that's right... still gotta pick up an extra suitcase from Mom... we're pretty well set... 3 weeks and counting!!

Later...

It's my vacation!

So.. I've been missing for a couple of days here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10... no worries... I'm still around... this is just a result of my pre-Vacation work load... you know... pulling together all the stuff that needs to be done before you go on vacation... you think I'm missing now, wait till my actual trip! I've just been busy getting my passport... shopping for cruise-wear... selecting my shore excursions... picking up my tickets... you know... all that bothersome stuff that needs to get done before you board ship for an 11 nite trip thru the Southern Caribbean in a luxurious Junior Suite complete with it's own balcony... I tell ya' it's been rough... Do we want to snorkel with sea turtles or swim with the dolphins in St. Kitts? The 4x4 Beach Party or the Catamaran sailing in St. Maartan? The Pirate Ship that was featured in "Pirates of the Caribbean" sailing or a day at one of the worlds finest resorts in St. Lucia? OH... the horrible choices I've had to make... only one has been really easy... the Pub Crawl in Aruba... that one was a given... of course it doesn't start till evening, so I still had to decide what we were gonna do during the day light hours... *sigh... my work is NEVER done... Vacation planning is such hard work...

Later...

Paying attention..

Just in case you weren't... paying attention that is... it would be really easy to miss this one... it's been over 50 degree's round here for the past 4 days or so... so hang onto your hat (and gloves and shovels and scrapers) we due for a foot of the white stuff tonite... just when you thought it was safe to go back outside...

Later...

Unusually serious...

So an interesting set of developments from yesterday's post... an epiphany almost... In case you missed it, most of the conversation took place on the weblog forums at Masslive.com, I posted a link to my "superbowl fluff" post to the forum and it ruffled a couple of feathers... My first response was a rather informative missive explaining the difference between a bass and a guitar, thus explaining Paulo's lack of instrumentation at the bowl... ok... My Bad and thanks for the info... then I got another reply...

"when I read stuff like Bayblogs post, all I can think is how little a lot of people know about music. As you said HC, you can dislike the guy, but to say he was lame is, well, LAME."

Well.. how rude... and I pointed it out as such... in this person's reply he pointed out that his comment was nothing 'personal' but was a comment on my post, but that my comment on his post was 'personal'... huh? He called me lame and I called him rude... sounds personal to me... Oh wait.. is the difference that he said "Bayblog's POST" and I said "you, 44444's, came off as just rude"? The difference between "Post" and "you"... huh... maybe he has a point... or does he? Are 'we' what we write or do our posts have an identity all themselves? How do you seperate the person from the person's words? Can you? Doesn't a person have to be behind that post? The post doesn't just appear out of nowhere, with it's own opinions... OH.. but what about "fiction"... It's highly unlikely that Stephen King writes from personal experience... so what about that? If you criticize King's books should King take it personally? Crap.. wait... he made up the stories out of his own imagination, so isn't a critique of his book still a critique of his imagination? *sigh... this is getting exhausting...

Are we what we write or can you seperate the person from the words? Good question...

Ok.. so then lets take this a step further... I handed some extreme criticism to Sir Paul... and you know what... I felt it was 'nothing personal'... go figure... I was rating his performance and questioning his professionalism, not him... or was I?? He's a big impersonal music figure... not a person... huh?? Wait... no.... that doesn't make sense... If we are what we write... or perform... isn't a critique of the 'art' a critique of the person?? Double Crap... I hate being guilty... So I did it too... so... we're back to square one...

Performance versus personal... add in the old "people need to take responsibility for their actions" and you've got an even bigger mess... are my posts a 'performance' or is it 'me being me'? Is the guy critiquing my post commenting on my words or on me? Am I calling that guy rude or his words to me rude? Do I think Paulo's performance was not superbowl quality or do I think Paul is not superbowl quality? OK.. now lets add into the equation "Everyone has an off day.." Does one performance or one post or one comment encompass the entire person? Certainly not... Paul could have been having an off day, I could have been experiencing an extreme mind fart, and the commenter could have just been in a bad mood... All perfectly understandable... so... YEAH... we're back to "the performance should stand alone" and can be critiqued without the criticism falling back on the person... and the crap pile just keeping getting deeper...

Well... now that we all have some major food for thought, and I'm confused as hell... What do you think? Are we what write/sing/paint/build.. whatever? Is a criticism of the 'work' a critisicm of 'us'? Or does this post really suck? OH... but then if this post sucks, then does that mean that I suck? CRAP!!!!!!!!!! Maybe I'll just get back to work...

Later....

My bad...

So it was pointed out to me that Sir Paul plays the bass, hence the lack of chordage... well... my bad... and don't we all learn somethin' new every day... so.. we have an explanation for his performance, but sorry, I still wasn't impressed... I will give you that having the entire stadium singing along with "Hey Jude" was pretty cool, but I still can't get past the fact that this was one of the weakest Superbowl performances to date, well, at least to my date...

So, for me anyway, it was a pretty sad version of the Superbowl... weak commercials, and an even weaker 1/2 time show... all and all quite the disappointment... and even though I'm sure all you football fans would have preferred a 'blowout' score for your respective team - from a non-fan point of view, at least the back and forth scoring/fumbles/penalties were interesting... imagine that... the best thing about this year's bowl was the actual FOOTBALL! Go figure!

Later...

Superbowl Fluff....

That's right... Fluff... cause frankly I'm not a football fan... I'm strictly the commercial watching, half-time show Superbowl watcher... so how bout those commercials... eh... I've seen better... amazing how the fear of a little booby can take the fun out of everything... at least Ameriquest didn't get too scared... they had a couple of very funny spots, especially the cooking guy with the knife, the cat, and the pot of tomato sauce... (and their other spot "Your gettin' robbed" was pretty funny as well!)

BUT... my biggest source of Superbowl frustration?? Half-time... Paul McCartney... how long has this guy been around? 40 years, maybe?? You'd think he could play a guitar by now... even if he was faking it way back in the day with the Beatles, you'd think he'd have picked up some chords by now... Hell.. I play a more convincing air guitar with my 6 guitar lessons under my belt than he did with that bowl appearance... if you Tivo'd it, go back and take a look, the man's right hand NEVER moves from it's original position on the neck of the guitar... Oh.. he made the body movements... he made the appropriate "playing guitar is hard" faces... he even pointed it at the sky and dropped it back down in a huge crescendo flourish.. but not once did he change chords... Oh, he plucked a couple of the strings with his left hand, but that was it... Maybe he's so old he's got arthritis and can't play anymore... Maybe he's just so full of himself that he thinks he can phone his performance in now and get away with it... Maybe he figured everyone would be so dazzled by the special effects that no one would notice he wasn't really playing... you know... when you put yourself up on a seperate little stage, on the 50 yard line, during the biggest tv event of the year, you probably should at least try to do the job you were hired to do...

Ok..I'll admit, I was disappointed with the choice of artist for this event, McCartney is past tense in my opinion, and he has been since the Beatles hit that long and winding road, his flight with Wings always seemed second class to me... but this performance... this one was the last nail in his coffin for me... and of course, the coffin is made of Norwegian Wood...

Later...

Positively Balmy...

Finally, a break in the weather... I don't know about you but those weeks of cold were really getting to me... not a single day above 11 degrees... yesterday it managed to get to 53 lovely sunshiney degrees... aahhh... what a relief... it was almost like doing a 20 mile walkathon in a pair of brand new shoes - not a good idea and what a wonderful relief when you get to kick them off at the end of the day... ok... so I haven't done a 20 mile walkaton since I was 18 years old, but I still remember what it felt like... I have an amazing memory for pain... good stuff will be wiped from my brain within days, but the memory of pain lingers in my cerebral cortex like a kid at a candy counter... so many options... so much pain... hence the reason I have but one man-child... OH.. I remember child-birth... yeah.. won't go there again...

So anyway... back on track... these past couple of weeks have been cold... painfully cold... and even with this lovely break in the weather, I'm not likely to forget this years bout of frigid temperatures anytime soon... and even if I am tempted to wipe it from my memory, I have all those outragious gas bills to remind me... it's all been enough to make me consider calling a realtor and talk to them about trading this icebox for nice little bungalow somewhere a good deal closer to the equator... OH... ok... so it may not be that easy to get this born and bred Yankee to move that far away from her ancestral home... but I have been looking for a deal on Expedia for at least a weekends break from the horrors of the cold New England winter... I'm leaning toward Vegas, baby... but then again... maybe I should just pay the gas bill and call it a wash, cause frankly, I think a hot shower is the only 'winter warm-up' I'll be able to afford once I pay that gas bill...

Later...

Friday Quickies...

So I was watching tv last nite, and this montage type commercial comes on with quick shots of 'faces in the news', and who flashes across my screen, but dirty old just-crawled-out-of-a-rat-hole Saddam Hussien... Seeing his face was almost a shock... talk about a lack of information on someone... it's been so long since we've seen anything in the news about him that the image was almost one of those "Oh yeah... I remember him" kind of feelings... Really Strange...

More freakin' snow... they said less than an inch... looks more like 3 to me...

One of my first posts to this blog - way back in July of '04.. I used the title "The Mountains are Missing"... well.. this post could have used that title as well.. only this time it's not the 7 Sister's that are missing, it's the Mountains of snow that used to populate the center of Northampton... all week the road crews have been lining up their big trucks and hauling the stuff outta town... where to? I don't know - but I'd kind of like to find out.. that's gotta be one HUGE snow sculpture!

The new office space is very comfortable - thank you! Very light and bright and the neighbors that we've met have all been very nice... Only complaint... the bathroom... 29 suites in the building and it's got a one seater ladies room... which is where I've met most of the new neighbors - waiting for my opportunity to pee... OH.. and the mini-dumpster... since day one it's been overflowing... I did some calculations.. if all 29 suites were to bring just one half bag of trash to that dumpster when it was empty - the trash would be overflowing by the time the guys from suite #16 tried to put their half bag in... *sigh.. always something isn't it?

Have a wonderful Friday everyone... Later...

Getting settled...

So the horrible move is over!! YEAH!! And for the most part everyone and everything survived.. Oh, there's a couple new dings in the filing cabinets... a brand new scrape up the side of my desk... and the office mates are both complaining of fever and chills - strangly reminiscent of my husband and me and our illnesses... but all and all - it went rather smoothly... Hopefully this office will serve our needs longer than the last one did... it should... this one has a straight-forward flat rent on a non-lease, month to month basis... unlike the old space in which every bill was a surprise adventure... our lease stated that we were responsible for our percentage of water, electricity, and repairs for the building... which was ok.. till the lawn sprinkler system sprung a leak and we got to pay 25% of a $419 water bill... OH.. and then 25% of the Sprinkler system repair bill... OH.. and then there was the salon that opened in the building... tripling the buildings electric bill - of which we were still responsible for 25%... even tho our electricity consumption hadn't changed our bill tripled along with the opening of our neighbors (and landlords) business... add to that snow plowing... gardening... air conditioner repairs... and you've got a regular bill fiesta!

So.. the move was definitely worth the pain.. the dings.. the low-grade fevers... OH.. and if you happen to be looking for office space in Easthampton... drop me a note and I'll let you know exactly what hair salon/beauty school on Route 10 we were located next to... it's gorgeous space that's available there... if you don't mind the cellar flooding out every couple of months... it definitely could be a good space for you and your business... especially if you like the smell of nail polish and you live for a good monthly surprise!

Later...

Permission...

So thats it... I hereby give myself permission to be sick... which is good... because man, am I ever... this will be a novel experience tho... one that I may have to work at... I haven't missed a day of work in 5 years due to sickness... I've taken my share of 'mental health days'... you know.. those days when you just feel like taking some time away.. but never because I've been sick... I guess I can't complain too much then... HEY!! Wait.. no.. I'm gonna complain... permission to be sick,remember!

This isn't gonna be as easy as it sounds... but I'm gonna give it my best shot.. I'm gonna lay around... watch tv... huh... actually that kind of sounds like a typical weekend... I guess this permission to be sick thing is gonna need some work... oh well.. I'll keep at it, I'm sure I'll figure it out before I start feeling better... who knew being sick was so much like work...

Later...

Moving....

Well.. that sucked... so we spent the entire day yesterday schlepping crap from one office - up the street one mile - to the new office... and we aren't even done yet! We'll be back at it again today... and just to keep things really fun... the husband is sick... yeah.. he's still helping us move... coughing like crazy as we disassemble desks and haul them out to the truck... NOT fun! Oh.. but it gets better... after a full day of hauling boxes we called off the rest of the move till today.. upon arriving home... and finally getting a chance to sit down... I realized.. huh.. I don't feel so great... wicked achey... (well that's kind of understandable - I hauled a ton of stuff today)... chest feels 'hollow'.. well, it was really cold and I am a smoker.. but man.. I'm FREEZING!!! So I grabbed the thermometer that my husband had registered a 100.1 on the other day... HOLY CRAP!! AND HE'S ACTING LIKE HE'S SICK!!! I pulled 101.5!!! Lovely.. just lovely.. The whole day we kept avoiding him like the plaque thinking he was the contagious one.. turns out I'm contagious too.. I blame being a parent.. it has become so ingrained to be worried about other people (children) that that's what I do... I was so worried about my husband being sick and having to help haul a 1,000 pound server rack through 3 sets of glass doors that I didn't pay attention to how I was feeling.. I almost wish I hadn't picked up that thermometer.. now I've got to go move more stuff knowing that I'm sick too... sicker than him! HA! I win... lucky lucky me..

So anyway... if I don't collapse in a snow banking alongside route 10 today.. I'll be back..

Later...

Extra Extra...

Extra snow... lovely... another snowy day here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10... on top of our foot from the weekend we are getting an extra 6 inches, just to keep it fresh and interesting.. The little dog has already been refusing to go outside till it's absolutely necessary and I can't say that I blame her, I've been doing the same thing... the temptation to go out with the camera on a little snow safari is great, but the snow amounts have been greater... greater than the height of my boots that is... nothing is more uncomfortable than a sock full of snow... if this weather keeps up the only thing that'll keep the snow out of the boots is to find a sturdy pair of hip waders - quite the fashion statement... I guess that's what seperates a 'hobby' from a 'profession'... I'm strictly a hobby photographer... but then again... if someone out there wants to pay me to go wade thru the snow drifts with my camera... well... sure... but no money... no photos!

Later...

Back right...

So my back was right... final snow amount on 9 2 Bay 2 9 10... around a foot... it really is amazing that my back new this was gonna happen even before the weather guys did... more than 24 hours before the weather guys did... take that Weather.com... maybe you should fire the computer weather simulators and hire me... cause we all know... I just don't have enough to do! Why just this week alone, I've got 2 newsletters to do, a website to finish up, 3 other websites waiting for updates, a database proposal to get out, and Oh yeah... packing and moving... it's new office space for yours truly, dear Reader... so does that mean no more 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10 ride everyday?? of course not... it just means 1 mile less... the new space is still on 10 in Easthampton - just one mile closer to Northampton... so in the midst of all the regular weekly activities - we get to pack it up and move it all this weekend... Oh the joy!

So anyway... that should explain the slow posting here in the next couple of days... but I'll try...

Later....

Pastels...

Jewel tone trees...

Crazy patchwork quilt on a snowy gnarled stand of trees... A little fun with Fireworks..

Still lifes....

A couple of the photo's I took this morning... Some Snowy Still Lifes...






More later...

Snow amounts up...

So... it seems the guys over at the Weather Channel are coming around in their guesstimations of the amount of snow we're supposed to receive here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10... their new prediction... 10 -15... HA... exactly my pain prognostication! The snow is still several hours away, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens... in the meantime it's preparations time here... get out those batteries... flashlights... extra candles... camping lantern... move the vehicles into a better configuration for snow plowing.... fill the bathtub with water (with a private well - if the electricity goes, so does the water pressure, and with it the toilet flushing capabilities)... fill clean containers with drinking water... check on the wood supply for the fireplace... and the list goes on and on...

At this point it almost seems kind of silly and unnecessary... it's bitter cold out there, but the sun is shining brightly... if it wasn't for the weather predictions you might not even know there was a storm coming... OH.. but then there is the aches and pains... could they be part of the grand design... is the human body designed to 'feel the weather' in some primal way as a warning system - saving lives in the pre-doppler radar centuries? "Bessie, my back is acheing somethin' powerful, better gather up thou young'ens, and batten down thine hatches..." "Thor leg hurt - move to back of cave"...

Anyway... here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10 - we're battening down the hatches... moving to the back of the cave... keeping an eye on the weather channel... and popping Ibuprofin like crazy... Stay warm.. stay safe... and keep the aspirin handy...

Later...

Weather predictions...

According to weather.com we're due for 3 - 5 inches of the white stuff tomorrow... but according to my back, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say "nope.. more like 10 - 15 inches"... As I write this I'm flashing on my Grandparents - how they would predict the weather from the intensity of their aches and pains... so when did this happen? When did I get old enough to start prognosticating the weather from my own aches and pains?

OOPS.. word of the week again...

Main Entry: prog·nos·ti·cate
Pronunciation: präg-'näs-t&-"kAt
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -cat·ed; -cat·ing
1 : to foretell from signs or symptoms : PREDICT
2 : PRESAGE
synonym see FORETELL

(don't forget to use it in a sentence at least once a day!)

So anyway.. back to my train of thought... I'm so freakin' old and I don't know how I got this way... prognosticating the weather by the ache in my lower back.. thanks so much... I couldn't just read the forecast on weather.com... nope I get to feel every single flake... and it's not just me... complaining about the deep ache yesterday my office mate (who suffers from arthritis as well) chimed in with "Man... mines killing me too.. I couldn't sleep last nite it hurt so bad.." So people... that's 2 of us... I suppose time will tell if those aches and pains are more accurate than some meteorologist sitting at a computer somewhere... my back has been wrong before, but not very often... so we'll see... (and if we do get dumped on in a major way, I'll be sure to post the pictures as well!)

Later...

Kind comment

Thanks so much for the kind comment, new visitor Anne... I always enjoy getting new visitors here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 10... it tends to make me step back and look at the blog with a fresh set of eyes... where is it going... what would the casual visitor see and read... am I being 'user friendly'? It's always gratifying when a new visitor has good things to say - it lets me know that I'm doin' ok... I know I'm pleased with it... just the right mix of my photography and stuff to read... or is there? Holler if you want more pictures (trust me I've got plenty more!)... oh.. ok... you can holler if you want more text too... we're in this together... I'll keep posting and you keep visiting... ok... so I probably would post even if no one visited... but I certainly appreciate that you do!

Later...

Do I need that?

Surfing through a couple of the blogs on Masslive.com there's a discussion going on about "Spam"... those unwanted - unsolicited emails that magically appear in peoples email in-box (that's just in case you've been living in a cave for the last few years!)... being the owner of a computer/web design business I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to become a Spammer... I've even received "anonymous" phone calls from people asking if I would be willing to do an email ad and distribute it to a listing they have... ummm... NO... thank you... Some are a little more discreet and just request a 'little extra code' on their websites.... you know.. stuff that will leave a little code on the viewers computer and track their movements... again.. NO THANK YOU...

With all the attention being focused on spam these days (and yes, I agree, it has gotten WAY out of hand), what people don't seem to realize is we have been the victims of spam all our lives - not just since the internet... Billboards... store signs... advertisement in the newspapers... television commercials... junk mail... and if you go WAY back... Kelloggs even did a campaign to paint the side of peoples barns with their cereal boxes - the farmer got a paint job and Kelloggs got an ad... That unwanted message in your inbox is really no different... You sit down and watch a movie on television... every 15 minutes up pop commercials for Viagra, home loans through companys like eloan.com, even the phone chat line 'where singles meet'.... Did I ask to see these ads? No... Do I need any of this stuff? No... They fall under the topic of "unsolicited - unwanted ads" - HEY.. that's the definition of SPAM!

Frankly... if you think about it... email spam is less intrusive than the average television commercial... the TV commercial goes on for approx. 30 - 60 seconds and unless your watching it on TiVo, your stuck for the full 30 seconds, your only option is to leave the room or change the channel... So you change the channel... and lo and behold.. MORE commercials... how convenient that almost all the tv channels go to commercial at exactly the same time... with email... in that same 30 seconds I can ctrl-click all the nasty messages that have appeared in my inbox and with one fell swoop hit the delete key... no more spam... for now anyway... no sitting there through 5-7 minutes of commercials waiting to get back to the task at hand (watching my movie)I'm back to work in less than 30 seconds..

So does this all mean I'm pro Spam? Hell NO... (I've turned down some very big fast cash to become one!) I just take a different view of it.. yeah... go after those spammers... shut them ALL down... I'll be thrilled.. but you know.. it's not anything new people... it's only the delivery system that's new.. if email had been available in the Dark Ages, gaurenteed, the corner blacksmith would be sending you messages to "Get your sword sharpened here! Don't leave for your next crusade without it!"...

So my point... Andrew.. if you want the Gevalia coffee... buy it.. your not doing anything that anyone else that watches tv - sees a commercial - and makes a purchase because of it does.. (then request that they take you off their Spam list...)

Later...

Fall back...

Fall back in time a little bit and enjoy a little bit of those early fall leaves...

Later...

Wandering in a fog...

Nasty nasty fog yesterday... it was really strange though... usually the fog is settled into the valleys and the peaks are clear.. yesterday it was the opposite.. the valleys were clear, but those hill peaks were socked in like nobodies business.. I suppose it makes sense... fog is created by warm against cold... cold air sinks... so the valleys got the cold ground and the cold air - no fog... whereas the peaks had the higher warmer air and the cold ground - therefore.. FOG... (and that's your environmental science lesson for the day!)

The fog did make for kind of a cool ride in yesterday morning... very surreal.. oops.. I think we just found the word of the week here as well...

SURREAL.


Main Entry: sur·re·al
Function: adjective
Etymology: back-formation from surrealism
1 : having the intense irrational reality of a dream
2 : SURREALISTIC
- sur·re·al·ly adverb

The ride to work was very surreal... The dark, wet - half frozen - trees against the grey fog gave everything an extreme definition... Every branch stood out and screamed to be noticed... really kind of lovely... but the ride home.. well that was another deal... visibility was really low on some of those hilltops.. Anyway... it was a safe ride for me on my backwards ride - 10 2 9 2 Bay 2 9.. I hope you all made it safely as well..

Later

Well Hello...

Well Hello there, Dear Neglected Readers... hopefully I haven't lost you all... it's just been one of those lovely, lovely weeks... between 2 ice storms, and clients back from vacation with a vengence... things are a bit crazy here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10... Why is that... clients go away.. have an 'amazing' time... get pissed that they have to get back to work... and take it out on you... I swear they all cleared their desks by dumping their stuff on mine... OH.. but I suppose I should just be grateful that there are clients to get dumped on by... yeah... nice sentiment... but when your pulling 16 hour days and people are still yelling "where's my stuff" it's a little hard to find 'grateful'.... Hey... what good is a job if you can't bi*ch about it right?

On a lighter note... I did get to get away from the desk this afternoon... I got to go to the dentist! Yeah... that's about how my week has been... so tell me... How's your week shaping up?

Later...

Room with a View

Interesting lines and an icy view... but then the view from every room is icy today!

Later...

Icey Rhodes

These rhododendrons have become one of my favorite photo subjects lately... if you head back to Nov. 12th you'll find these same shrubs covered in the first snow of the season... there's just something about the pink stems that fascinates me.. I never noticed the pink till I photographed them for the first time... Very dramatic... I'm almost gonna hate to post an entry up above them they look so nice with my pink template...

Another snow day...

So, it's another snowy day here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10... woohoo... although it's already turned to rain/sleet out there... it is lovely tho.. much better than that brown crap... now if we can just keep the electricity on things will be great... I whimped out on my ride again today, so here I sit, safe and sound, in my own little home office, you know.. I should get a break on my car insurance - if it even looks like snow I hang up the driving gloves till another day.. so I have 4 wheel drive and could probably make it no problem, but it's not me I'm worried about, it's the other drivers.. you know the ones... they drive the 20 year old mini vans with the bald tires and still think they can do 50 down Bay Road in a blizzard... Oh.. and the "other" SUV drivers that think 4 wheel drive is "magic" and they have great traction so of course they can still stop on a dime... ummm... wrong! So, I'll just stay here... let the SUV guy rear-end the mini van lady and leave me out of it...

Later...

Quickies...

• Yeah.. it's snowing... not that I really love snow... but anything is better than that brown muddy crap that we've been looking at out the window lately... my 'seasonal depression' has been acting up lately - this normally doesn't occur until March, the normal time for brown muddy scenery... but lucky me, it's snowing, so that should help.. Oh, but then I'll get to go thru it all again come March... *sigh... can't win...
• The 2005 Weblog awards are being voted on right now... 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10? Ignored again... well.. considering that fact that this blog didn't exist for last years awards, I guess I can't say 'again'... so I was just 'ignored'... You can help people... blast all your buddies with this address and turn them into rabid 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10 readers... they'll love you for it, or report you to the Attorney General for spamming them... either way I'm sure they'll be happy to hear from you...
• New blogging ideas are starting to formulate... perhaps an 'offshoot blog'... one for just the photography? or maybe a give the "Silver Toilet Paper Award" it's own blog.... not sure.. we'll just have to wait and see what solidifies...
• Time to wake the dog "nuts"... so how come I crawl out of my nice warm bed at freakin' dark-thirty and yet the stupid little angry dog gets to stay curled up, cozy and warm? Huh?? Hey... who's stupid and angry now??

More... Later....

Photoshop fun?

Fun with Photoshop and the angry little dog!

A New Blog Year!

So.. Happy New Year! Ok.. so I missed writing yesterday - the first day of the new year - hopefully that's not an indication of the frequency of the posts here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10... I've actually been doing really well lately - been posting pretty much everyday - and as I wax nostalgic - I must say that the majority of my posts for 2004 were 'happy' posts.. or at least I didn't bitch too hard or too long.. which is more than alot of my fellow bloggers can say (a few blogs I frequent have taken on that 'train wreck' theme and I CAN'T LOOK AWAY!) , so I guess I'm doin' alright...

With the new year upon us though, it may be time to switch things up... freshen up the blog as it were... try something new... something different... something exciting... something no one has ever done before... ... ... .... .......................................... Damned if I know what it'll be... if you got an ideas - shoot me a note... cause I'm at a loss...

Later....

Thanks for signing up...

Thanks for signing up for my email newsletter... please be assured that your email address will NOT be abused.. sold... or shared with anyone.. I have yet to set a schedule for my new newsletter but I'm hoping for an every couple of weeks deal...

Thanks again,

Laura

A crappy poem

For a crappy year:

Ode to 2004!

It’s New Year’s Eve,
Let’s raise a glass to 2004,
Say goodbye to the old,
and prepare for more.

We all lost a lot,
that we hold dear,
Ray Charles and Julia Child,
all in one very short year.

A thousand soldiers,
they will not come back.
They gave their lives,
in the war in Iraq.

Indonesia is devastated,
so many are gone.
The world will rally,
and help them to move on.

So let’s raise a glass,
and drink it on down.
Last year was crap,
but let’s not frown.

Soon a new year,
2005, it will be..
So keep the bottle handy,
and hold your breath with me!

A bonus..

Here's a years end bonus for you... if only we could all be that relaxed!

Not so angry now is she?

Later...

Photo for ya'

I'm at a little bit of a loss for words as far as the end of 2004 goes right now... although.. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say later... so anyway.. here's todays newest photo to keep you busy and reward you for clicking on my blog...
Thanks so much...
Later...

How come?

Points to ponder:

• How come some psychic didn't 'see' the devastation in Indonesia months ago?
• Why are pistachio's dyed red?
• Why does my man-child actually know the answer to the above question? Complete with the explanation of the term "caught red-handed"... (leave a comment if you know why too!)
• What exactly is in a Pepperoni?
• If you are what you eat, how come I don't have chocolatey skin and a creamy peanut butter center?
• Why do we make New Years Resolutions? You know they aren't gonna last!
• How come the stupid little angry dog makes 3 times the mess that my regular size dog used to?
• How come you have to tell the pizza guys in Easthampton that your order is 'for pickup' when you call? Isn't that a given? Do people usually call, place an order, and then just say "No.. I'm not gonna pick it up, I just wanted you to make it"... Aren't the majority of phone orders "pickups"... Cut to the chase people.. how about I'll tell you if I'm gonna eat it there, but for the most part, you can assume that if I'm callin'... I'm pickin' up... and that goes for me wanting it delivered as well.. I'll let you know.. otherwise.. it's ok.. you can assume!
• and finally.. for now... Why do Pirates wear earrings?

Later...

Geekdom

I'm sure most offices this morning had the usual gathering around the water cooler with discussions of what super cool/funny/dramatic/reality television show everyone watched last nite... My office was no different - or was it? Turns out we all watched the same program last nite - a riveting program on nothing other than "String Theory" courtesy of Nova and PBS... it really was fascinating, but I've always been a fan of Nova programs... as the discussion turned to the 11 dimensions and membranes in space I could only shake my head and smile... "What a bunch of Geeks we are!" and the really amazing thing is we will all admit it... not too many years ago "Geek" was a curse.. a taunt.. something to be hidden away and not discussed... now we wear it proudly and admit it freely... times have changed... and thank goodness for that... there really is nothing like a good 'quantum physics' discussion first thing in the morning!

Later...

Taking Advantage

Once again I have avoided the 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10 drive... My office mates have got to be wondering if they will ever see me again.. Oh.. I'll be back at it, but for the time being I'm going to take advantage.. several of my busiest clients have taken this week off - so the instant messenger is blissfully quiet... my next face-to-face meeting isn't scheduled until thursday... everything else can be accomplished from the home office... the man-child has winter break from college... the husband has the week off from work... so everyone is home.. including me... I tell you, if you haven't switched to a laptop computer yet, do it NOW! Every nite I pack up my work and I bring it home with me from the office.. actually that sounds kind of horrible.. who would sign up for that... bringing work home.. well, let me tell you, it's great... if the next morning I wake up to find that the husband has a flat tire, or the kids car won't start, it's a simple matter to send them off in my truck while I labor from home, never even missing a beat.. Get dumped on by 6 inches of snow - I'm not driving in it! Nothing to wear - I'll work in my jammies! Bad hair day - no one has to know!

Of course it helps that I have my business calls routed to my cell phone - I can talk to clients for hours on end and not one of them even suspects that I'm standing in my kitchen while I discuss their website with them.. the only thing I haven't managed to do is to make sure I take all those paper files with me.. I try to make sure the office is as "paperless" as possible but that never seems to be the case - there's always those pesky scrap notes that I've taken while on the phone - printed receipts for purchases - usernames - passwords - etc. that never seem to be in the same place I am when I need them... there's got to be a better way... so I think for this years New Years Resolution - that will be it.. try and mobilize my office completely... Oh, I'll still have the paper goods mess - you have to... there's nothing like a complete hard drive meltdown when it contains the only copy of the website password for your biggest client (note to self - add more frequent hard drive backups to the New Years Resolution!) but at least if I have both a digital copy and a paper copy of everything, I'll stand a better chance of having what I need, where I need it, when I need it!

So that's it.. a more organized mobile workplace for me for New Years and while I organize for the annual tax time ritual it's a great time to start... I'll call you and let you know how I did, but I'm sure your phone number will be written on the back of an envelope, sitting on a desk at least a half an hours drive away!

Later....

Fireplace cooking - part 2

We seem to be on a fireplace cooking spree lately - Christmas Eve it was a weenie roast - which turned out great by the way - we all managed to get our fill of crispy dogs - without interference from the stupid little angry dog... it wasn't easy keeping the dog away from the dogs, but we managed it.. it was delicious - and fun to boot!

Tonite we moved on to more gourmet type cooking - well - gourmet by 9 2 Bay 2 9 10 standards... Baked potatoes! Very easy.. wash 'em.. poke 'em with a fork a few times... triple wrap them in aluminum foil - and toss them into the coals.. turn them after a half hour... leave 'em alone for another half hour... and eat.... if you like them crispy though - you can take them from the coals and put them into the flames for a few minutes (still wrapped).. so that was dinner.. baked potatoes with broccoli in cheese sauce topping, and a half a loaf of foccacia bread (slightly warmed in the oven)... yummy! A nice warm easy meal for a snowy sunday evening... and light years better than a ham sandwich!

Later...

It's over...

What a lovely Holiday... yes, it was.. Lovely.. and I hope that your celebrations were all lovely as well.. As I sit here typing on my new wireless keyboard and mouse set, drinking my coffee from my new "anti-electrocutionary" coffee pot (nope, not a typo, my old coffee pot was an electrocution waiting to happen!), I am still filled with the wonderful Christmas spirit..

The man-child seems very happy with the selections that Santa made for him. I got to spend yesterday afternoon ensconced with some of the newest 'baby' members of my husbands family - there really is nothing sweeter than babies at Christmas.. The only thing missing was my 'family christmas' and if you read, you know that we did that last weekend instead of Christmas nite.. OH.. but I did get to talk to a couple of them yesterday though.. Seems there was a small gathering of my family at my Mom's yesterday while I was at the in-laws.. How do I know? They called me, on my Father-in-laws house phone because for once I didn't have the cell phone with me... What was so urgent that they had to track me down? Computer problems of course! So there I sat, on my in-laws sofa, surrounded by the love and joy that is Christmas - troubleshooting the old computer that I gave my Mother a couple of years ago - I KNEW I should have made that t-shirt.. you know the one... "Yes, I will fix your computer, but I'm taking your Christmas presents back!!!" So anyway, it's official, I can put "tech-support available 365 days a year" on my company website and REALLY mean it! Truth in advertising.. it's a special thing... I'm already looking forward to next year, I think I'm gonna invite my little brother over for Christmas and ask him to mud the drywall in other half of the cellar, and I'll get sister Jeannette over here too and get her to spot me while I eat my dinner.. I only wish I had a 'mechanic' sibling that I could ask to change the oil in my truck on Christmas day, but I got a construction worker and a nursing assistant instead.. Oh well.. they'll have to do..

Anyway.. here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10 - we are all appropriately happy and satisfied and sufficiently exhausted to consider the 2004 Holiday Season a rousing success! I hope you all are still filled with the wonder and joy of the holiday as well..

Later..
OH.. and ps.. Deb.. could I get you to come over next "family Christmas" and get your official realtor opinion on the value of my home? We'll do that computer upgrade to Evan's computer that we discussed at the family christmas this year, while we're at it...

Merry Christmas Eve!

So here at 9 2 Bay 2 9 10 we are a very traditional family.. as in, we have many, many traditions.. especially Christmas Traditions.. So the man-child is 19 (so it was previously reported that the man-child was 20, he actually just turned 19 - bad mommy!) but that doesn't stop him from still wanting the old Christmas Traditions that we've honored since he was knee-high to a reindeer.. oh.. he'll argue that he's too old for a reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" before bed tonite, but if last year was any indication, he'll be smiling by the end of it.. so this year may be a little different seeing Mom & Dad are ready for bed at 8:30pm and the man-child stays up till who knows when.. but we're doing it just the same.. if we have to force him into his room and MAKE him sit and listen while we read, he's gonna get a dose of it tonite.. well... techinically we don't read.. several years ago we gave away all his children's books - and our copy of 'Twas went with them... so we do it from Mom's admittedly shaky memory... you try it some time.. (tonite would be optimal!).. it ends up being a rambling, disorderly, half madeup version that is just too much fun for words.. much more fun than just a straight forward traditional reading..

Another tradition is the annual Christmas Eve weenie roast.. just like it sounds - cut some sticks.. get some hot dogs (natural casing of course, yum!).. the buns and fixings.. and light a roaring fire in the fireplace.. as much fun as a weenie roast is over a campfire, one in the living room over the fireplace is even more special! Although, this year we may have to forgo the weenie roast, frankly, we're a little concerned how the angry little dog will respond to hot meat on a stick.. 2 of her favorite things.. meat.. and sticks.. it's a Corgi-Jack accident just begging to happen.. at the very least we suspect that the only one of us that would actually get fed is the angry little dog.. Oh well.. we'll figure it out..

Presents under the tree! Yeah!! We have a strict rule - NO presents under the tree until Christmas Eve.. this year wasn't too difficult to honor this tradition considering we only put the tree up on Monday.. it just makes the 'present pile' that much more awe inspiring when it does appear...

Christmas breakfast... Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls from a can.. these things will kill ya' if eaten on a regular basis.. but once a year never hurt anyone.. and they fill the house with that lovely cinnamony smell for hours afterwards.. an easy breakfast with a bonus.. lovely...

So.. Merry Christmas Eve from 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10!

Christmas Quickies...

So I think I've found the secret to Christmas shopping.. go early in the morning.. and I mean EARLY.. in just 2 days of early morning shopping before work I've managed to get all my shopping done! Woohoo.. now I just have to wrap and bake, and I can sit back and enjoy!

The weather has definitely warmed up.. warm and rainy today.. although the side roads were quite the ice covered mess.. and of course.. driving still is not a picnic.. all that road salt and sand is kicked up onto your windshield.. make sure your windshield washer fluid is topped off! I tell you, I blame the cost-cutting measures by the automakers for this one.. if you notice.. none of the new vehicles come with mud flaps as standard anymore.. next time your on the highway take note of the plume of water coming from the non-flapped vehicle versus the flapped vehicle.. then get behind the guy with the flaps.. the visibility difference is HUGE!

What is with Target? First they refuse to let the Salvation Army bellringers collect outside their stores and now, as I worked my way thru their aisles this morning, dead silence.... not a Christmas Carol to be heard.. not even the 'normal' musac.. nothing... bah freakin' humbug... although they did have a great deal on a Chenille blankie - 25 bucks! Warm, soft, cozy goodness.. Perfect for the mother-in-law that is always cold (and doesn't know this blog exists so there's no chance of her reading it)!

Anyway.. that's it for now.. you may get lucky and get more later.. we'll just have to wait and see if I can blog after a couple of bottles of Christmas Cheer! So if I'm not back here and you are.. Merry.. Merry Christmas Dearest Readers! May your days be merry and brite.. and may all your Christmas' be filled with joy! (I bet you thought I was gonna say 'white' didn't you! HA!)


Later...

Toe Jam?

So, I took my own advice and have been listening to the Windows Media Player "Holiday Pop" Christmas Music... Some of them are very nice.. some are a little 'out there'.. but hey, what do you want for free? But... this one is too much.. Luther, you should be ashamed of yourself.. yes.. Luther Vandross singing "Mistletoe Jam"... it was actually kind of pleasant.. until I realized I was singing "... toe jam"... huh? Toe Jam? Really... would I lie to you? So it's official.. every possible Christmas song has now been written and recorded.. Toe Jam, indeed! :)

Later...

Frozen Assets...

Remind me again why I live in New England? It was a balmy degree out this morning.. no.. that's not a typo.. it was 'A degree' as in ONE... ONE DEGREE! Singular... Un... Uno... ONE! Everything was frozen solid.. it took me 5 minutes to get my frozen truck door open and by the time I did, I was frozen... even the stupid little angry dog, who usually is the first one to bolt out the door, stood in the open doorway, looked out, shivered, looked up at me as if to say "Are you freakin' NUTS Lady? I don't have to go THAT bad!", and promptly turned around and jumped back into her spot on the sofa.. gee thanks.. so I not only have to go out in the cold, but I've got to do it alone now too.. lovely.. thanks so much!

So after much scraping and pre-heating.. I was on my merry frozen way.. only to discover that the 116 and Bay section was glare ice.. after a couple of miles of 20 mph and watching the ugly mini-van in front of me spend more time going sideways than straight I've decided perhaps I'll skip the Bay cutoff tonite and fight my way thru the lovely Amherst traffic.. better slow than crashed I suppose..

Stay warm.. Later...

Welcome, new readers...

Well.. I've heard thru the grapevine.. and email.. that I've got a couple new family member readers.. wonderful.. welcome Ladies! Now if I could just get my own husband to read it as well.. really.. and it's not like there isn't some useful information in here.. take for instance the "Quickie" post" I did.. (scroll down a little).. you know.. the one where I mention how the State Police have been sitting outside of the Old Dorey Jeep.. useful info right? You'd think.. Well.. it seems that the husband and the man-child, off on their annual Christmas Shopping spree - encountered some flashing blue lights.. and no.. they weren't at K-Mart experiencing one of their blue-light specials.. they were passing by, you guessed it, the old Dorey Jeep building... *sigh.. luckily they only got a "Christmas Verbal Warning".. lovely.. I always suspected he ignored what I said - I guess it's spread to what I write now too! Love you too Honey! :)

Later..

Christmasy!

So.. Christmasy enough for ya? If this doesn't get you in the Christmas Spirit.. I don't know what will.. we've got a ton of the fresh white fluffy stuff out there... and it's still coming down.. the kids all got a bonus snow day.. although the Colleges have got to be freaking out.. it's finals week.. STCC already double booked alot of their finals, throw in a 2 hour delay and it's going to be madness.. luckily my man-child wasn't scheduled for one today, so he's home today - and so am I.. not even gonna attempt my 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10 trip - I'll be safely ensconced in my new home office (which came out lovely - btw!)

By the way, that is the word for the week "ensconced".. (and yes, I spelled that one right - thank you Merriam Webster..)

Main Entry: en·sconce
Pronunciation: in-'skän(t)sFunction: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): en·sconced; en·sconc·ingEtymology: en- + 2sconce
1 : SHELTER, CONCEAL
2 : ESTABLISH, SETTLE (ensconced in a new job)


So do something Christmasy.. put some carols on the stereo.. build a snowman.. decorate.. make some cookies.. write some letters to Santa with your kids.. and just enjoy the lovely snowy day - safely ensconced in your own little world - and don't forget to use the word ensconced in a sentence at least once a day..
Later...