I've Got Terrible Neighbors...

So, I've had a rather eventful day!

This morning, the kiddo and I were on our way to his school, as usual...and I was greeted with a humorously dead car battery. The battery was so dead, the radio didn't even so much as flicker when I tried to start the car. [Remember, it isn't even my car!]

In a quasi-panic, I called up my sister and asked her if she could take my son to school [my sister is not really a morning person...not at all!] and then I called my parents to see what they suggested I do to remedy the situation.

My dad suggested that I try to jiggle around the cables on the battery, thinking that maybe one of the cables had lost contact with the battery...he even recommended using a hammer to 'improve contact' if necessary...all this was being said as my dad was putting on his shoes to come to my rescue. [My dad really is the awesomest!]

So there I was, in the parking lot in front of my apartment building...hood up on the car, wailing on the battery cable connection with a hammer, and trying to assure my kiddo that everything was fine and 'no, you don't have to stay home from school just because the 'car is sick.'...

Here's what bothered me:

The whole time this scene was playing out, there were people all around me! Right before the hammering of the battery cable connection started, a young couple parked their stupid beige Camry right next to my distressed car...the girl went inside to fetch her friends, and the guy stayed...right by his car, which was less than 5 feet from where I was futilely attempting to resuscitate the poor car's battery.

Not once did said d-bag guy offer to help. He never even asked if I might need some help! Instead, he kept his eyes trained on his stupid phone probably losing at candy crush.

When the soccermomcamrydriving girl came back with her friends in tow, not a single one of them offered help or gave me even so much as a glance of concern over my vehicular distress.

They weren't the only ones, either. There were at least 5 others who merrily [or grumpily] got into their cars this morning and didn't even bat an eyelash at me and my car troubles this morning.

What a shame! What's the matter with people? Since when is it alright to not help someone when they're visibly in need?

Ugh.

Anyway...my sister stepped up and helped in a huge way by taking my son to school and my dad brought jumper cables and brought the car back to life...all in all, the drama was relatively short lived. So, that's a bit of good news...

But seriously. I've got some a-hole neighbors, don't I?

Balloons and Potatoes....

Yay! Balloons!

Woohoo!! My lovely little blog hit 500 views today!

Now, I have no idea if this is actually something to celebrate  (I'm sure there are tons of amateur blogs that pull over 500 views daily...), but I'm kind of excited about it!

[At this point, I'll note that about half a dozen or so of those views can be attributed to me trying to tinker with the formatting...before I realized that I could turn off the option to 'track my own page views.' Oops..]

What else is note-worthy so far about today.../ponder

Derp...

Oh! I've come to the revelation that some people have social skills that rival that of a potato. Yes, yes, I know that by knowingly choosing to have male best friends, I signed up for a lot of facepalm-inducing social interactions...but c'mon!!

Isn't it 'common sense' that most conversations, even via text message, warrant at least a tiny bit more than a 'K' response?? (I hereby submit a motion to rename that which is currently known as 'common sense' to something more fitting such as 'ultra-rare smarty smarts!')

For anonymity sake, I won't elaborate on why I feel compelled to compare one of my dearest friends to a potato...but, those that do know who I'm talking about, please do feel free to pelt him with tater tots. Frozen or thawed, doesn't matter...

Not much else new to write about...

I started doing some research on some of the private schools in my area...it's a pretty short list to look at. Especially if I start cross-referencing the private schools that are available with the private schools that I can afford...hahaha yep...that amounts to zero schools!

/shrug oh well, doesn't hurt to look, right?

You guys have a good afternoon! I'm off to sit in carpool-lane traffic and drain my cellphone battery by listening to audio books and trolling through Pinterest! Hazzah! 

Hamster Wheel!

Let's talk for a minute about ruts...

You know what I'm talking about, right?

I SAID SNOOZE!!!

That state of mind where you can't help but feel like your life is on a constant loop of sorts...each day is the same thing as the day before...get up, go to work, come home, go to bed, repeat repeat repeat...

I spent a few minutes thinking about the premise of 'daily ruts' earlier, and I've decided that the whole think is a bit baffling...

As human beings, our brains are more or less wired to create routines...to some degree, we crave routine. This can be very beneficial, allowing us to form 'muscle memory' for tasks that would be too demanding otherwise (driving, most athletic feats, typing on a keyboard with any sort of proficiency...I'm sure there are a million other examples, all of which manage to escape me at this moment...)

However, it is these routines (blown up to a daily scale) that can lead to 'ruts'...I can't think of anyone that would say that they actually enjoy being in a rut. They're terrible!

What a cruel trick of nature...

I had intentions of sitting down and writing a mind-blowingly profound about 'ruts' and the unfairness of the human condition...but it's coming on 5 pm and I have to start getting dinner ready...

Squee!

Hmm? Oh, never mind me...I'm just another person stuck in the perpetual hamster wheel that is a daily routine! Tra-la-la!

Sunday...

Hey, guys!

I know it's been a while since my last post...I've been trying to get away from posting everyday, I realized that if I post too often, this blog almost turns into an online diary rather than...well, whatever else it was supposed to be.

It's been quite an eventful week for me...my kiddo got sick on Labor Day. But of course he wasn't symptomatic until around 6pm. Perfect timing for all of the emergency walk-in clinics to be closed! Luckily, I was able to get in touch with his pediatrician through their after-hours phone number...I ended up having to take him to see his doctor, but not until the next morning. The odd thing is, I still don't really have a clear idea of what my little one was sick with...he had a very low-grade fever Monday evening, but no fever at all after that. He had some coughing and sinus drainage, but it was actually better than it had been in the weeks before...

The only thing that was really bother some were his swollen lymph nodes in his neck. When I say 'swollen' I mean REALLY swollen. The one on his left side was swollen so badly that it was obviously swollen. (To clarify, I've always been rather bad at deciding whether something was swollen or not...I'd usually have to end up comparing it to the same, not swollen body part...like comparing the right and left side by touch)

The swelling has gone down significantly now, and I'm sure that he'll be back to normal in a few days. Thank goodness!

Other than that, most things are the same as the last few times I've posted. I'm still looking for a car, I'm still working on appraisal classes, and I'm still listening to audio books.

I hope you guys are having a good weekend! Will post again soon!

RJ11 Cables...

Hey guys! Hope you've had a good weekend (and a long weekend, at that!).

I've been putting off writing a new post...was rather hoping that a brilliant topic would come to me, but that still hasn't happened yet! So, instead, I'll let you guys in on a little bit of computer stuff that I learned over the weekend.

Remember me mentioning my new computer a few posts back? Well, I decided to tackle the project of setting up my "home office" yesterday. Not a terribly huge task, but it involved moving my computer set-up from my bedroom to the living room.

I decided on a good spot to set up my work center and started moving computer pieces, but it wasn't until I started to move my router that I realized that it was going to take a bit of planning to actually do so. I get my cable and internet through AT&T U-Verse...I don't know if it's the same way for everyone that uses their services, but in order for my cable to work properly, the 'main' receiver must be directly connected to the modem. This is the point when I realized that, rather inconveniently, my new PC doesn't have built-in wireless capabilities. And that the only broadband outlet in my entire apartment is in my bedroom...

After placing my cable boxes in their new homes and testing them to make sure that they'd work properly after I'd rearranged wires and such, I realized that the modem would have to be in the living room in order to be connected to both my PC and the main cable receiver. No big deal, all I'd have to do is get a really long cable and run it from my broadband outlet to the modem...so, off to retail land I went to find said cable.

Here's where I learned something new...(well, sort of new). In the diagram, see the cable that has orange dots on it? That's the cable that runs from the outlet into the back of the modem/router, and it's a RJ11 cable...also known as a plain old phone cord.

Silly me, I didn't realize that the cable that goes from the outlet to the modem/router and the one that goes from the modem/router into the computer are not the same sort of cable! 

I really wish I had known this before I went and bought a ridiculously long cat5e cable (which would be fine for connecting the modem/router to a computer). I'd spent almost 2 hours running the wrong cable all around my living room, meticulously placing clips to securely hold the cable in place (rather than running the cable through the middle of my living room floor) and then discovered that the cable was pretty much useless.

At which point, I had to go back to the store, buy a dang phone cable, and correctly connect my modem/router to my broadband outlet. And now, there's a phone cable running across my living room floor...but my computer has internet access!!

So there you have it! Now, anyone have any tips for hiding a phone cord?

Fish Nugget Haiku...

/vomit

Okay. So these are just about the worst thing ever.

Bad enough that I'm bothering to write a post about them.

Earth's Best Fish Nuggets

So Gross, And So Very Bland

I Want A Refund

There. I've written a haiku about them and their suckiness. 

In conclusion: Earth's Best Fish Nuggets Suck.

Fin.

[Hehehe...'fin'...]

Look at me, I'm doing stuff!

I've got my first 'room mom' meeting this morning...in about an hour and a half, actually...and I'm freaking out, just a little bit...

It's not 'job interview' scary or 'medical school interview' scary, not by any means...but the idea of having to sit down and chit-chat with these ladies that I know nothing about.../sigh do I have to?

Might be time to break out
these sweet moves again!

Luckily for me, there are only going to be 5 of us...and I know I've at least seen two of these ladies. One of them I actually quite like...her daughter sits at the same table/group as my kiddo in class, we talked a little on 'meet the teacher' day. The other one that I know I'll recognize is the lady who I ran into at the fundraising dinner...you know, the one who got to experience my full-blown awkwardness first-hand?

So yeah...fun times ahead...soooo looking forward to it.

I know, I know...I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. Maybe these ladies are going to be awesome, and today will be the start of some epic new friendships.

/Sigh Oh well. I know I'm making way too big of a deal out of this...I'm sure everything will be just fine.

Right?

Buddies...

Found this on  BuzzFeed a few minutes ago:

22 Things That Happen When You're a Girl with Mostly Guy Friends

As a girl who has a lot of guy friends, I'll agree that a good portion of the list is true.

Also, I love my guy friends...you're awesome! [You know who you are!]

Sugar Skulls...

Can I nap all day, please?

Bleeeeggggh...I'm not feeling well this morning. My throat is sore, my sinuses are draining, my head is pounding, and I've got that un-welcome and yet familiar sense of overall malaise. [Malaise is the generalized feeling of discomfort, illness, or lack of well-being...otherwise known as 'feeling yucky.'] The body aches are the worst, though...if not for the aches, I could probably take some allergy/sinus medicine and feel tons better. Muscle aches, I loathe you.



While sifting through my email this morning, I noticed I had a new advertisement from Paper Source.

Paper Source

Paper Source sells all sorts of paper goods...most of them frivolous, but undeniably adorable or trendy. Somewhere along the line, I agreed to receive emails and catalogs from them...I don't think I've ever bought anything from them, but I can't really justify spending extra money on paper novelties right now. Not to say that I wouldn't, though. They had some paper peony wreath kits earlier this year that were ridiculously cute!

Now that it's almost September, I guess retailers have deemed it appropriate to start bombarding everyone with their Halloween/Autumn/Fall wares. The Paper Source email was proudly advertising their new line of all things Sugar Skull.

I guess I'm a fan of sugar skulls...I think they're neat. Considering I'm overall a fan of things melancholy and macabre [I'm in literary love with Edgar A. Poe...and not just because it's trendy], seems to make sense that I'd at least like the idea of sugar skulls.

Adorable and sugary sweet...with just a dash of creepy!

I then realized that aside from the pop-culture aspect of them, I don't know much about sugar skulls at all. I vaguely remember reading a snippet on them when I was taking Spanish in high school...but it was probably just a line or two at the top of some coloring book page that was masquerading as 'busy work.'

Anyway, the sugar skulls are actually called 'calavera' and are an integral part in celebrating the Day of the Dead. [On my second read through of the information on sugar skulls...it seems like I remember a good bit about them from college Spanish courses...but sleep hazy me thought that it was all breaking news caliber information...hehehe sleepy me shouldn't be trusted with academic decisions] Interestingly, the Day of the Dead coincides with the Catholic All Souls and All Saints days. I can't speak for every Protestant denomination, but I do know that First United Methodists observe All Saints Day...I need to check and see if the date matches...it would be awesome if the Day of the Dead and the Methodist All Saints Day were on the same day!

Skeletal is the new sexy, right?

But anyway...I think it's a good thing that American 'culture' appears to be embracing aspects of other cultures so readily. I don't know if you've realized how sugar skulls have inundated portions of our American Halloween and Autumn traditions. Not sure what I'm talking about? If you run an internet search for skeleton make-up, a good portion of the results are a lot like the picture to the right...notice a resemblance to sugar skulls?

Skelita Calaveras

Another example is found in the popular Monster High line of toys. In 2012, Mattel released the new character. Her face is clearly modeled after the design of a sugar skull, and it's also reflected in her name. [Calaveras = sugar skulls, remember?]

I think it's a beautiful design for a doll, but the skeletal body is just off-putting enough to keep me from actually buying one.

Yeah, yeah...I'm almost 30 and will still buy dolls if I find them interesting enough. I wish I could say it's for collector's purposes only...but I'd really, really to play with some of them!

Finally, there's a new movie slated to come out this Halloween called "Book of Life." I honestly don't have the energy to go into detail about the movie [thanks again, malaise!] but here's the IMDb link, feel free to check it out:

IMDb - Book of Life (2014)

I'll probably go see it...twice.

The trailers that I've seen are bright, colorful, and boast a story reminiscent of mythology tales that I've heard many times before. Average-Guy loves Girl, Popular-Guy loves same Girl, Girl seems to teeter between both Guys, plot thickens as both Guys compete to win the affection of said Girl.

Throw in a villain that has his own agenda involving the previously mentioned Guys...sprinkle in a dash of Spanish folklore...add the voices of a few well-known celebrities...finish with a 'fantastic' director, and voila! You've got the basic recipe for this Halloween's box office, animated smash of a movie.

So pretty! 

The art is gorgeous! I'm already a fan of this character, and I don't even know what her name is!

I honestly can't even remember where this crazy train of thought was going...but I think it's time to let it go before I start rambling about skeletal cats with flaming heads...or something. Yeaaaah...I'll talk to you guys later.

"Gone Girl"...A Must Read/Listen!

View from my balcony, Sunday morning...

It was a beautiful weekend, but goodness it was HOT. With temps being in the upper 90's and humidity at about 50000%...as long as the sun was out, it was not pleasant. But that's what air conditioning is for!

The kiddo had a great time, I had a good time, and we were able to get some work done on the condo units...all around a good trip, I'd say. Pretty sure that it helps that I've been listening a really awesome audio book. Courtesy of Amazon, here's what it's about:

Just...amazing.

"Marriage can be a real killer. One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed that her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit and deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn. On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet? With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around."

Such a good story...if you've been looking for a good read [or a good listen, in my case] then you need to check this one out! I've got about two hours of listening time left. Not sure how that translates to pages, but I am itching to know how it ends...

Okay, I've got to get back to work...updates on other things later!