Loot Crate!

I consider myself more or less up to date when it comes to happenings within the "nerd world"...but, yesterday, I learned about something that is simply too awesome to keep to myself!!

Behold! The LootCrate!

So much win!!!

The brilliant minds behind this gift from the geek gods brings a box of goodies to your door on a monthly basis, for as many months as you wish! (Or wish to pay for!) How great is that?!?!?

August's Crate

April's Crate

I've posted pictures of a couple previous crates so you can get a better idea of what exactly comes in these boxes of epicness!

Too...much...awesomeness....

Sign me up!

Stupid Wandering Thoughts...

Ugh.

What a stupid, crummy, bah humbug day.

You might wonder, "Why are you having that sort of a day?"

And you're surprised, why?

I'd reply, "I did that incredibly foolish thing where I let my mind wander, unchecked, to thoughts that open up old emotional wounds. Again. I know it's a stupid, masochistic thing to do, and I let it happen anyway...which kind of adds another layer of "duh stupid!" to the already crappy hurt feelings. /sigh"

Yeah, yeah, yeah...look at me with all of the condescending tones that you want...you won't make me feel worse than I already do, trust me.

Progress Reports and Haircuts...

Yesterday, my kiddo brought home his very first progress report card. I really don't see much point in sending home report cards for kindergartners, but I guess it's just part of the whole "getting acquainted with school" process.

Smiley faces are 'good,' right?

I should probably clarify my meaning in what I just wrote:

I don't see much point in sending home kindergarten report cards because there are no grades! Instead of grades, there are a few of the concepts that they're working on and a note on whether your student is performing at a satisfactory/unsatisfactory caliber. Soooo...yeah...

Though, I'll admit that I'm a little bit concerned that my kiddo received 2's on a few of the check boxes at the bottom. He's not quite '3 material' when it comes to finishing tasks in a timely manner and listening to instructions the first go around...

I'm kind of at a loss on how to handle this sort of thing...

As a student, especially in elementary school, I was such a 'people pleaser' of a child, that I really don't remember ever bringing home any progress reports that weren't absolutely dripping with comments on how I was "such a delight to have in my class!" or the "ideal student!"

Okay, my memories may be a little bit biased...

But seriously. What's the best way to handle this sort of thing? I don't think that he's being a terrible student, really, but I know he isn't applying himself the best he can...Ask the kid anything about the Avengers, Spider-Man, or Star Wars! He'll dazzle you with how much his 5-year old mind can retain! But ask him to sit down and do some handwriting or reading and you'll probably wonder if English is even his primary language...

A good portion of me is cautious about being overly strict here...A product of a military father and a "tiger mom," I know what can happen when you press a child too hard. [Love you, mom and dad, but you know I'm right...] However, I also know what can happen if you're too lenient and a child perceives that there are no consequences or no incentives to do their best...or worse, the child can feel like the parent simply doesn't care about how they're doing in school and, thus, doesn't care about the child...

/Sigh Where's that nifty little guidebook that was supposed to come with becoming a parent?!?

Parental calamity aside, I've had another pesky thought swimming around my head a good bit lately:

I want a hair cut!! [I blame my cousin for this!! She mentioned wanting to get one a few days ago, and now I REALLY WANT ONE!]

Why is this a big deal? Because, I don't want just a trim or an addition of a few layers...I'm seriously jonesing to get another pixie cut. I present to you, my options!





Option 1:
I definitely wouldn't go blonde [it just isn't a color that I like for myself], but I like the overall shape of this cut. I also like the medium-length-ish bangs!

Option 2:
Now, this color is one that I adore! I know I've mentioned in previous posts that I have a love for red hair...this picture combines that fantastic red with an amazing cut...yes, please! This cut has longer bangs...more styling possibilities?

Option 3:
As seen on the fantastic Anne Hathaway, pixie cuts also look fantastic on brunettes...pretty sure that my natural hair color isn't the same lovely shade as hers, but it's pretty close...closer than red, anyway. This cut has shorter bangs than the other two.







Option 4:
Yes, I know this one is a bob and not a pixie...but I think it my be my compromise cut. It's still a good bit shorter than the current shoulder-length hair I've got going on right now, but isn't as dramatic. I'm also thinking that not going quite as short would give me the change of pace that I'm looking for without the commitment that comes with a pixie cut...





I'm planning on giving the whole haircut situation a good couple of weeks to think about...partly because my cousin and I have an unspoken agreement to get dramatic haircuts together, and partly because I need to tap-dance around my finances a bit to make sure that I can spare the money required for an excellent cut and color...definitely not a job for Great Clips!

What do you guys think? Which haircut would you choose?

Tiny Death Star...

Hey, guys! Hope you're having a good morning!

No more cough drops!??! 

I apologize for my lack of posts over the last several days...I've been rather occupied with some visiting family and trying my darnedest to kick the cold bug that's been bothering me. After going through almost two whole bottles of DayQuil, I think I've finally gained the upper hand and have even (/gasp!) started to feel a bit better! Crossing my fingers that I'm back to 100% very soon!!


What else has been going on lately...

Umm...oh! My Tiny Death Star has grown to over 25 floors!

I'm not terribly certain if that's an actual milestone or not...but it's something, right?

Tiny Death Star is a game that my sister downloaded on her phone to entertain my kiddo while she kept him for me for a few hours a week or so ago...and of course, I downloaded it onto my own phone later on that same night!

It's very time consuming and mildly entertaining...but when I'd told my sister of my Death Star exceeding 15 floors just before the weekend, she laughed and said that hers still had only 6 floors...bringing to light that I tend to my Death Star WAY more often than I probably should.

I can't help it, though! Every time I tend to my Death Star (replenishing stock in the various stores, collecting items from recon droids, rearranging the work/living situations of my captive 'bitizens'...) I receive a menacing notification from The Emperor sternly reminding me that some other floor or bitizen needs my attention...and it must be reconciled quickly before Darth Vader is made aware!

...

Maybe I should delete the game from my phone after all...I'm not going to let some tiny Sith lord push me around!

(Or maybe I'll just turn of my notifications! hehehe)

Well, I'd better go...Darth Vader has noticed that the Cantina has run out of food I've got lots of work to do!!

I said I wanted a LARGE french fry!!

Hooray!!

Hey, guys...

So...many..cough drops...

This cold/allergies/virus/energysuckingplague is kicking my butt...I've been steadily losing Round 2 with what I thought was the same 'bug' that I had about a week or so ago...but now I'm not positive that it's the same bug at all. I'm starting to think that it's some ridiculously mutated version of itself and it's been running amok all over my respiratory system.

I finally gave up and bought some Day-Quil yesterday, and it seems to be helping a little bit...but I'll be glad whenever I finally get over this crud! Crossing my fingers that I can get well without giving the bug to my kiddo...

Some awesome news! My college roomie, and one of my dearest friends, had her first baby! I'm super excited for her, maybe even ridiculously so...she's the first of my friends to have a baby (I don't have any nieces or nephews either, yet...but that's really okay, I'm the oldest of my siblings anyway!) and I'm genuinely stoked!! I got a pictures of the little darling yesterday and I can't wait until I have a chance to go visit them! Road trip to Louisiana sometime in my near future? Yes, please!

Speaking of road trips...

I guess a car is a rather necessary component of a road trip to anywhere...I'm still dealing with an unresolved lack of car, but thankfully the battery issue with my borrowed one seems to be handled. I've come to the conclusion that the battery died due to the interior light being left on...a rather /facepalm sort of situation, but at least I don't have to replace the car battery just yet.

Okey dokey, I'm going to find some sort of hot beverage that will, hopefully, make me feel a little bit better...happy Friday!

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?