What's New in My Life
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March, 2003
- I know, I know. I haven't updated this page in months.
I don't really have an excuse... Well, OK, I've got tons of excuses
(laziness, busy-ness, being more interested in my blog page, the fact that
one I've skipped one month, it's far too easy to just keep going with the
trend) , but none of them are particularly good excuses. Anyway,
a lot of stuff has happened since November, so let's see...
- To begin with, I did, indeed, spend a week at my sister's place in
Oregon over Christmas. Overall, the visit went really well. It's
nice to spend Christmas with family, and it was really great to get
to see my little nephew again. He's 22 months now, and in the interval
since the last time I'd seen him, he'd changed into a walking, talking, irresistably
cute little human being. I'm going to have to make it up there more
often, if he's going to keep changing that much between visits.
- Now for the bad news... We've recently found out that my stepfather
has cancer, and he's been deteriorating pretty rapidly. Both he and
my mom appear to be doing as well as can possibly be expected, but, well,
it isn't good. I'm going to be going out there for a couple of weeks
at the beginning of April to help take care of him while my grandmother (who
has been staying with them for a while) is back East taking care of some business.
Wish us all well.
- There has also been good news and bad news for me on the work front.
The good news is that we are now on a much better work schedule. The
bad news, primarily, is that we're now very short-handed, and it looks like
we're going to stay very short-handed, because the Observatory won't
hire someone new to replace the last person who left. The result is
that we've now got three people doing a job originally intended for five.
Mostly we're able to manage OK, but a few weeks ago we had a big screw-up
that put us far behind schedule, and we all had to work a couple 60-hour weeks
in order to catch up. Scheduling vacation and dealing with people who
have to take off for sickness or emergencies (e.g. me having to go to California
for a while to help take care of Charlie) is turning out to be a real pain
in the ass. I guess it could be a lot worse, but still I don't think
anybody's particularly happy. I know I'm not...
November, 2002
- The trip to New Jersey went very well! I had a great time
at the convention, and a nice relaxing time visiting my relatives, and, yes,
the cheesesteak-eating went according to plan!
- As I write this, it's early on Thanksgiving Day, and more relatives
are on the way! I missed my uncle when I was in NJ, because he
was in Albuquerque! He's in the Air National Guard, and has been
sent to Kirtland AFB for a few weeks of special training so he can get
promoted. I figured it would be nice to get together while he's in
my neck of the woods, and Mom wanted to see him, too, so the plan is that
Mom and her husband, Charlie, are going to drive out here, stop in Albuquerque
and pick him up, and descend upon me for Thanksgiving. (Though we're
probably going to do the actual turkey-cooking tomorrow, since it's likely
to be late by the time they get here.)
- And next month, I'm heading up to Oregon to visit my sister for
a week over Christmas. I'm just being such a family gal lately!
October, 2002
- Well, I believe I've got the holes in the roof patched up. My
next project is going to be to coat the whole thing with waterproof coating,
but it may be a while before I can get that done, since it needs to be done
when the weather is dry and warm.
- I'm all set to head off on vacation back to New Jersey in a week
or so. I'll be attending a tiny science fiction convention in Newark,
where hopefully I should get to meet some people I've corresponded with on
the internet, and then I'm heading down to South Jersey to visit relatives,
including my Dad. And to eat cheesesteaks. I'm really looking
forward to the cheesesteaks!
September, 2002
- I know, I know, I managed to skip August entirely. These
days, I seem to do most of my nattering on about what's new in my life
on my blog page, and I tend
to forget that this page even exists. I suppose I really ought
to keep updating it... Maybe. Is there anybody who looks at this
page but doesn't read the blog? Would anybody actually care if I just
stopped updating this page? Feel free to let me know if you actually have an opinion.
- I'm still having problems with my front yard flooding and with
my roof leaking. The good news is, I think I should be able
to fix the roof myself (at least, to stop it from leaking any more), but
I'm having trouble finding the time to do it. All I need is a couple
of days when it's not raining, and my front yard isn't too muddy to plant
a ladder in, and I'm awake during the day, and I can get my hands on a tall
enough ladder. That doesn't sound like it should be too difficult,
does it?
- I just got a new computer! And, man, it is so much
faster than the old one... Now all I need is to ditch this ol' dial-up
connection for something faster, and I'll be livin' large on the internet,
baby!
- They've gone and cancelled
Farscape, and I am really pissed off about it. Anybody
who knows me (as opposed, I suppose, to any random strangers who happened
to have surfed in here by accident for because they're actually interested
in reading about my life for some unfathomable reason) has probably already
heard me ranting and raving about this at length, though, so I'll refrain
from repeating myself again here.
July, 2002
- Well, that comment
last month about desperately wanting rain seems rather ironic now...
You probably already know about this, if you're one of the people who usually
reads this page, but a couple of weeks ago we had a major storm that left
the trailer park I live in flooded. And, lucky me, I think my front
yard was the worst hit. For days, I had to wade through water halfway
up my calves to get from my front door to my car. Eventually they
had to get the fire department in to pump it out! Fortunately, there
doesn't appear to have been any serious damage, but it left a nasty, stinking,
mucky mess in my front yard. To top it off, just as the mud was finally
starting to dry out, it rained again! I'm not quite back to square
one -- it's still possible to walk across the yard without getting your
feet submerged -- but there are huge puddles of standing water in front
of my house again. On the upside, the trailer park's population of
little kids seem really excited about our new tadpole breeding grounds.
On the downside, I think we're all considerably less than excited about our
new mosquito breeding grounds. Oh, and, to top it all off, I've discovered
that, if you throw enough water at it at once, my roof leaks. Rather
badly. Anybody want us to send this spare rain your way?
June,
2002
- Not a whole lot
to report at the moment, actually... It's shaping up to be a very
long, very hot, very dry summer here. Every so often the storm clouds
will gather, but it seldom ever does any more than spit. Which
is why half the Southwest is on fire,of course. We've had a smoky
haze hanging over us here for the past week or so from fires in Arizona
about 200 miles away. Anybody got any spare rain they want to send
our way?
May, 2002
- My nephew, Aaron, celebrated his
first birthday earlier this month! Wow, does the time fly fast or what?
Next thing you know, he'll be wanting to borrow the car keys! I'm
hoping to have some more pictures of Aaron up here somewhere in the near
future; it's just a question of finding the time to do it. Stay
tuned!
- If you've
been reading my blog
(glutton for punishment that you must be!), you've probably already read
all about this, but I took a nice little road trip at the beginning of the
month, visting White Sands National
Monument and the International Space Hall
of Fame in Alamogordo. I particularly recommend checking out White
Sands if you ever get a chance!
- And the science-fiction
fan in me (which makes up probably about 99% of my personality!) has
definitely been enjoying herself. I did get out to see Star
Wars Episode II, and while it wasn't any better than I expected it
to be, I was glad to catch it on the big screen, anyway. The effects
are incredibly impressive. And right now, the Sci-Fi Channel
is running an all-day marathon of Farscape, which I'm busy
taping so I can watch the whole thing with a poor, deprived friend who
doesn't have cable, but who I managed to get hooked on the show, anwyay.
Sounds like an ideal way to spend a weekend to me!
- Oh, and I found
out that Rush is going to be playing in Albuquerque in August! I
am so hyped about this, 'cause I didn't think I was likely to ever
get the chance to see them performing live...
April,
2002
- I'm taking a few
days off this week, just to spend some time relaxing and doing... well,
whatever I feel like doing! Which is absolutely wonderful.
I never have been able to understand people who retire and then complain
that they're bored. I think I'd give a great deal to be able to
live like this all the time, and there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind
that I'd find plenty of ways to keep myself entertained. Yeah, that's
me. Age 30 and ready to retire. Where is that darned Ed McMahon
with my million-dollar check?
- Good thoughts go
out to my dad, who recently had to have surgery on his sinuses, with
lots of attendant unpleasantness. Hang in there, Dad! Hopefully
it'll do you some good in the long run!
March,
2002
- Well, spring has
definitely sprung here in New Mexico! As I write this it is an absolutely
gorgeous day outside. (So why I'm sitting here in front of my computer,
I don't know.) Spring usually lasts about two weeks here, before
the weather becomes Too Damned Hot, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts.
Though I could do without the wind...
- The thing I'm most
excited about at the moment is that we're finally getting new epsiodes
of Farscape soon...
Which is either an indication of just how uneventful my life is at the
moment, or of just how obsessive a TV science fiction fan I am. I'll
leave it up to you to judge.
- I do, however, at least have something resembling a social
life. I'm going up to Albuquerque on Easter (aka "tomorrow,"as I
write this) to visit some friends. I actually have invitations to
Easter dinner two different places, but I don't think my stomach's quite
that big any more, even if the timing works. :)
February,
2002
- Well, not a whole lot to report this time out, either, I guess.
Things have been pretty hectic at work, since my supervisor had a heart
attack (taking everybody by surprise, not least of all him!). He's
fine, fortunately, but needless to say he was out of the office for a while...
which meant, among other things, that I ended up having to do a lot of
the stuff he usually takes care of. Like I said, hectic...
January, 2002
- As I mentioned last time, I spent Christmas at Mom's place
in California, and, as advertised, their new house is indeed very nice!
And I spent pretty much the entire time stuffing my face and sitting around
watching satellite TV, which is definitely my idea of a vacation. :)
- Other than that, not a whole lot's been going on lately...
On the work front, I got to take a trip out to the VLBA's radio telescope
at Pie Town
again a few weeks ago. This is the third time I've been out there,
but I always enjoy it. Crawling around on the dish is fun!
I've also been learning a little bit about what happens to the astronomical
data after we're done with it. The process of data reduction and image
production is interesting, but complicated. I think I'll be
sticking to running the correlator for a while yet!
December, 2001
- Well, gee, lately I seem to feel really busy all the
time, but when I actually look back and try to figure out what it is I've
been busy doing, I find that I honestly have no idea! I
think over the last couple of months I've mainly been busy finding myself
yet another Favorite TV Show to obsess over (Farscape : catch it in repeats
Mon-Thurs. on the Sci-Fi Channel !).
Well, that and sleeping a lot, which somehow seems to come naturally to
me in the winter. Like a bear.
- I'll be spending Christmas this year at my Mom's place in
California. This'll be my first chance to see their new house since
they moved earlier this year, so I'm really looking forward to that.
I'm not particularly looking forward to dealing with airport security,
mind you, but, hey, at least I'm doing my bit to support the US airline
industry, right?
- And on that note, I'd like to wish a happy holiday season
to all and sundry! See you in 2002!
November, 2001
- Actually, when I said last month that there wasn't a whole
lot new to report, I realize that I forgot to mention the latest round
of Automotive Woes. Not that this particular incident was all that
big of a deal. Nor, for once, was it my fault, as I wasn't even
in the car! But somebody backed into my poor vehicle in the parking
lot and left a big ol' dent on the left rear fender. (Well, I say
"somebody," but I know who it was, as he very properly waited for me to
get back to the car to tell me he'd done it.) Damage was to the tune
of about $1000 and several days to fix, but the insurance company covered
it all, and even gave me a rental while mine was in the shop. (Appropriately
enough, it was from Enterprise rent-a-car, who were great to deal with...
But the rental experience left me with the firm determination that I am
never going to buy a Metro. Man, I thought the engine in
the Neon was a come-down
after the truck...)
- I hope everybody had a happy Thanksgiving! I spent mine
with my old high school friend, Brett, and his family, who I hadn't seen
since last Christmas.
October, 2001
- Not a whole lot new to report this month, I suppose...
The joys of home ownership have been continuing to be, well, less than
joyful. Most recent household headaches have included an exploding
kitchen faucet and a non-functional furnace, but everything does seem
to be in working shape now (knock on wood).
September, 2001
- Somehow, in view of the larger events that have happened this
month, the details of what's been happening in my own life suddenly seem
terribly trivial... Enough so that I'm actually finding it difficult
to motivate myself into doing an update. Still, our lives do go
on, and I, for one, am very much in favor of the idea of keeping up an effort
at normality. So...
- I suppose the main thing is that things are changing a little
bit at work. My supervisor has moved on to a different position,
and one of the other correlator operators has taken over the supervisory
postion... Meaning we've had to hire a new operator, who should
be starting the beginning of October. This might possibly mean that
my work schedule will be changing again in the not-too-distant future.
If so, hopefully it'll be a change for the better, but we can only wait
and see.
- On a totally trivial level, this month marked the premiere
of the new Star Trek series, Enterprise . I must say,
after Voyager my expectations for this show were extremely
low, so it's probably no surprise -- nor is it saying a great deal -- that
I liked it rather better than I'd expected to. It does seem to have
a fair amount of potential, but it could also wind up being yet another
major disappointment. Once again, I suppose that only time will tell.
August, 2001
- Yes, I know, there wasn't an update for July. There's
a good reason for that, actually, which is that I sat down to do the update
on the evening of the 31st, only to discover that either I or my ISP was
having some computer problems. Whatever it was, it seems to be OK
now, but, well, now it's August. Deal with it. :)
- The major event for me in July, of course,
was a two-week trip out to the Pacific Northwest. I got to visit
my sister and her husband in Oregon, and to finally meet my little nephew
Aaron . (I
may have more pictures of him up here soon, so stay tuned!) I also
managed a trip up to Vancouver,
British Columbia (my first visit to Canada!) to pay a return visit
to my old internet pal Peter Chattaway
. (We stopped in Tacoma, Washington, too, to meet another mutual
internet-acquaintance, so my collection of "people I know from the 'net
that I've now met in real life" continues to grow.) We did quite a
bit of driving around the countryside in both Oregon and B.C., and I'm pleased
to report that the region is quite as beautiful as advertised. Vancouver,
in particular, strikes me as a lovely city. Oh, and I also finally
got to visit my own personal Mecca: Powell's City of Books in Portland ! To round
it all out, I also got to spend some time with my Dad and his wife,
Janice, who were able to time their own visit out to see the baby
to overlap with mine. Quite a trip!
- So, what's going on with the whole trailer thing, you might
wonder? Well, I'm still getting myself settled in, but one
by one the boxes are slowly being unpacked. Hey, when have I had
the time? Anyway, I now at last have the final necessary
major appliance I was lacking, as Mom came out shortly after I got back
from Oregon and helped me buy a refrigerator. (Yes, up until then,
I'd been using a tiny dorm-sized fridge. And, yes, it was annoying...)
June, 2001
- Ye gods, but the last month has been eventful! And the
most important event, of course, deserves a paragraph all by itself.
So:
- IT'S A BOY! Yes, folks, my one and only nephew, Aaron
Thomas Arndt made his appearance May 2nd, 2001 at a healthy six pounds,
one ounce and 19" length. This was actually about three weeks before
we expected him... My sister nearly scared us all to death when
she was suddenly taken ill and had to be rushed to the emergency room
for a Caesarian, but mother and baby are now doing just fine. You
can see a picture of him here . Ain't he
a cutie-pie?
- In other news... After many trials and tribulations,
I am finally beginning to get settled into my new place. (I'd regale
you with the tragicomic Saga of the Water Heater here, but I think I've
already inflicted that one on most of you. If you haven't heard
about it, well, be grateful for small favors. Really. The upshot
of it is that I was without hot water for three weeks, but it all seems
to be sorted out now, mercifully.) I've still got a lot of unpacked
boxes and things sitting around, but I figure, hey, I'll get to those
when I get to them... In the meantime "I'm not completely moved in"
seems like a good excuse for a messy house, right?
- I also just got back from yet another trip to Las Vegas
(why do I seem to keep ending up back in that place?) for the wedding of
my friends Kim and Seth. Congratulations, guys! (Alas, congratulations
are not due to me, because I didn't win anything, despite actually spending
some time playing the slots this time out. Ah, well. We can't
all be lucky...)
May, 2001
- Yes, yes, I know, I missed April... But, in my defense,
life's gotten pretty hectic pretty suddenly.... The main reason being
that this month I am moving! This was a very sudden decision...
See, while Mom was out here visiting, she happened to mention (as she
so often does) that I really ought to get a place of my own, instead of
paying rent every month and ending up with nothing to show for it.
Which she was quite right about, of course, but I'd never really gotten
around to doing anything about it. Well, Mom suddenly got the bright
idea that, hey, she could buy a trailer, and I could pay her
back for it at less than I'm spending in rent now, and at the end, I'd own
the thing. Which seemed like a good idea to me. So, next thing
you know, two days later, I've got a new trailer! (Well, OK, a rather
old trailer, in fact, but definitely new to me!) Thing is,
that means getting it moved into the trailer park and hooked up and getting
the utilities turned on, and getting packed up, and buying furniture, and
getting everything cleaned... Man, I hate moving...
March, 2001
- Well, March, it seems has not been a terribly eventful month...
Although it somehow still feels as if I've had far too much I
want to do and far too little time to do it in, I find that I don't have
anything of particular interest to report here. Looks like the
next few months are going to be pretty busy, though. To begin with,
my mother and stepfather are coming out for a visit at the beginning of
April... Hmm, come to think of it, I should go clean the house before
they get here...
February, 2001
- Believe it or not, I am now (about to be) a professionally
published photographer! Yes, the art director for the Northern New England version of AAA 's
club magazine saw the photo of Omey Island
on my Trip to Ireland
page and asked if he could buy it for an upcoming edition of the magazine!
Pretty cool for a vacation snapshot that took thirty seconds to take
with my cheap little camera (which, I might mention, was quite literally
being held together with duct tape at the time). Just blows my
mind that the only piece of "creative work" I've ever sold to a professional
market is a photograph, since I'm so not good at the visual arts...
- By the way, I have just been told that my future niece-or-nephew,
is, in fact, a future nephew! My sister and her husband already
have the name picked out: Aaron Thomas Arndt. Looking forward to
meeting you, little guy! I'll be making the trip out to visit visit
them after the baby is born, some time this summer...
January, 2001
- Well, here we are, officially in the 21st century (no matter
how you count it)! Pretty cool to think we've lived
to see it, huh? Although I'm still wondering where my atomic-powered
car and my robot housekeeper are... Ah, well, at least we've got
the internet!
- There's not a whole lot of news to report here at the beginning
of the millennium, though. I'm working on getting over the lingering
traces of a rather nasty bug of some sort. Oh, and there was the
snowstorm last weekend... Probably the largest single snowstorm
we've had since I've been here, in fact. But even so most of it
has melted away by now. I do like that about New Mexico: when it
snows here, at least it doesn't hang around after its worn out its welcome...
December, 2000
- I hope everyone's [insert winter holiday of your choice] was
happy and wonderful! Me, I spent Christmas in Albuquerque with
my friend Brett and his family. (Brett and I went to high school together in New
Jersey, and, by coincidence, he and his parents moved out to New Mexico
at the same time I came out here to go to college. So he and I have
actually kept in touch, unlike, well, me and pretty much everybody else
I went to high school with...) Anyway, that was nice (and featured
a truly wonderful Christmas dinner!). I suppose I could have done
without having to drive home in a snowstorm, though. (Who
says a white Christmas is a good thing?)
- And, so, we come at last to the end of the year 2000...
It's been a good year for me, and for my family, and I hope it's been
good to you, too, whoever you may be! And here's wishing you an even
better 2001!
November, 2000
- Well, I went to California over Thanksgiving to visit my mother
(and my grandmother, who happened to be staying with her), and, boy, did
it turn out to be an interesting trip! My mother stopped at a casino
on the way to pick me up at the Las Vegas aiport, intending to get a cup
of coffee and play the slot machines for a few mintues, and ended up
winning... well, a lot of money! I've decided to take full credit
as a good-luck charm. Anyway, that rather livened up Thanksgiving.
Which also, of course, featured the traditional wonderful turkey meal.
And, needless to say, I ate way too much...
October, 2000
- Here's an incredible piece of news: I am about to become
an aunt! Yes, that's right, my sister and her husband
are currently expecing their first child. (Which, right now, according
to my sister, is "an inch and a quarter long." From such humble
beginnings do we all arise...) I'm really very excited about this,
although there's a part of me that has great difficulty accepting the fact
that my baby sister is actually old enough to reproduce (never mind the fact
that she's less than three years younger than I am). Many, many good
wishes to the prospective parents! And, of course, this gives me even
more incentive to go out and visit them next year, as I'd already planned
to do, anyway.
September, 2000
- Wow. For as busy as it seems like I've been so far this
month, I find that I have nothing terribly interesting to report...
The main thing, I suppose, is that I just bought myself some plane tickets
to go out and visit my mother over Thanksgiving. She tempted me with
thoughts of my grandmother's home cooking, and how could I say no?
- Actually, here's something nifty... It appears that
my modest little book review page (which, to a large extent, I only
put up originally because I needed some content for this website) is reaping
unexpected divedends for me. Namely, I just recently had a publisher
(Harcourt) e-mail me and ask me if I'd like some free books (the idea being
that they send books out to reviewer-types and hope it generates them a little
publicity). Well, yeah, right, as if I'd turn down free books!
So they sent me The
Telling by Urusula LeGuin, Soulsaver
by James Stevens-Arce, and The
Eternal Footman by James Morrow. I haven't gotten around
to reading them yet (and knowing my backlog, it may be a while -- particularly
for that last one, which is the third book in a trilogy of which I have
yet to read the first two volumes), but, hey, maybe you'll see some reviews
from me on those soon. 'Til then, at least I've provided good old
Harcourt with at least this little smidge of publicity...
August, 2000
- Let's see, what have I been doing this month... Well,
I suppose the biggest (or at least, the most fun) thing was the Sting concert. This was at Albuquerque's
new Mesa del Sol amphitheater,
which turned out to be a pretty nice venue. We were in the
lawn area, actually, which I can report is really quite pleasant.
The concert itself was cool, although poor Sting was nearly upstaged by
his opening act: ludicrously young and amazingly talented blues-rocker
Jonny Lang
. I'd never even heard of this kid before, but I can tell you,
I was deeply impressed. Will be buying his CDs soon!
July, 2000
- Well, the summer fun continued this month, as I used up yet
more of my considerable accumulated vacation time... The highlight
of which was a visit from my friend Peter Chattaway from Vancouver.
I'd known Peter for ages in a long-distance kind of way (mostly over the
internet), but we'd never actually met in person, so that was an interesting
experience! We did a lot of driving around (including a short jaunt
to Mexico just to be able to say we'd crossed the border -- can you believe
I'd lived in New Mexico for 10 years and never made that particular trip?).
We also took in a couple of movies, so I can now say that I've been to the
movies with a professional film critic! (For the record, my own critical
opinions: X-Men good, ScaryMovie bad.)
June, 2000
- I just got back from a short vacation in Las Vegas ... It's interesting:
the first time I visited Vegas, I said "Well, it's someplace that I'm
definitely glad I saw once, but I don't think I'll ever particularly want
to come back." And yet, somehow, I seem to keep ending up there on
a regular basis! This time, my friend Jeannine (the same one who
"dragged" me to Ireland ) talked me
into it. I'm glad I went, because it turned out to be a pretty fun
trip. We wandered around various casinos (which have been springing
up like mushrooms; half the casinos on the Strip, it seems, weren't there
the last time I visited). We also hooked up with my mother and stepfather
for a meal and a tour of Hoover Dam
. But I think we spent more time than anywhere else at the Las Vegas
Hilton's Star
Trek: The Experience , which was extremely cool, and which I
can easily recommend to my fellow Trek fans.
- My automotive-problems saga continues (sort of): I just got
a note in the mail from Geico saying
they were canceling my insurance due to those two accidents I had.
(Though they did offer me their alternative Car Insurance for Bad Drivers
for a wince-inducingly large amount of money.) Now, I was impressed
with Geico's customer service after my accident, but as it turns out, they
probably did me a favor by kicking me out, as a few minutes online landed
me with a policy (with Progressive ) at $100 a
month less than I'd already been paying! So, gracias , Geico!
I probably would never have gotten off my butt and gone to look for cheaper
insurance otherwise!
May, 2000
Well, as is doubtless obvious to anyone who's realized that this
page isn't in the location it used to be, I have, indeed, found myself
a new internet provider. As it happens, there are, in fact, two ISP's
here. SDC is a tiny company, but they
didn't put me on a three-month-plus waiting list! It's really quite
a relief to have 'net access at home. I'm not sure how I lived without
it all this time! And for anyone who hasn't recieved the word yet:
I'll still get e-mail sent to my NRAO address, but it's probably better
if you send personal e-mail to me at ragan@sdc.org
instead. - Of course, I've been putting the new computer to good
use, doing things much more useful than surfing the internet.
Yes, that's right, I've been playing games. Word of warning: don't
buy The Sims . It's disgustingly
addictive, and you'll never get anything else done. Trust me, I
know.
April, 2000
- I just bought a new computer: a Gateway Astro
. It's a pretty cheap computer (as computers go), and it's obviously
designed for dummies, since being easy to set up is apparently one of
its selling points. But, hey, cheap works for me (I don't want to
do a whole lot but word processing and net surfing, anyway, so I don't need
anything incredibly sophisticated), and when it comes to computer hardware,
I'll admit to being a dummy. But it seems like a pretty nice little
machine, all in all. It's going to take some getting used to, though.
I haven't used anything later than Windows 3.1 before, really, and I've
done very little with that, so learning to deal with Windows 98 should
be an interesting experience. And I had hoped to get set up with
an internet account at home, but that's probably going to take a while,
alas. There's really only one main local ISP here, and they're not
taking any new subscribers until they get some new phone lines installed...
which, they say, could take two or three months. Sigh. I just
love living in Socorro.
March, 2000
- Well, I'll be starting on my new work schedule the beginning
of next month. As it turns out, in a way my hours are going to be
somewhat more regular, as I'll at least have the same days off every week.
However, those days are going to be during the week, which means that
I will be working weekends (either on a day/evening shift or a night shift)
as a regular thing. I don't actually mind this too much -- in fact,
I volunteered for it, as it gives me Fridays off to play Torg -- but it does
mean that if any of you reading this are ever likely to want me to do
something with you on a weekend, you're going to have to give me lots
of notice, so that I can sign up for vacation time, or make arrangements
to shuffle my hours around.
- The new car
is doing fine, and thanks to everyone who's asked after it! Although
considering what gas prices are like these days, I almost can't afford
to drive it...
February, 2000
- My first issue as Central Mailer of Phoenix came and went last
month... The job is turning out to be fun and satisfying to a certain
extent, and a pain in the neck to a certain extent, but it has definitely
been a learning experience!
- Things have been shaken up pretty badly here at work, as budget
cuts led the Observatory to lay off one of the other correlator operators...
Which means we now have four people to do the work that used to be done
by five. Joy. Expect my already bizarre work hours to be getting
even weirder in the near future, guys.
- Other than that, I can't think of too much else that I've
been doing lately... Watching too much
Blake's 7 , mostly.
January, 2000
- Well, you can all finally stop asking me if I've bought a car
yet, because at long last, the answer is YES! After three months
spent on foot (good for the shape of my calves, bad for my bunion -- but
that's more than you wanted to know), I finally have wheels again!
I went out and bought myself a 1999 Dodge Neon. A very neat little car,
if I do say so, although after the truck it's going to take a certain amount
of getting used to. But I'm very happy with it. And, believe
it or not, I actually have pictures !
December, 1999
- Well, the insurance company totaled my truck (not surprising,
really), but the amount they gave me for it was enough to pay off the
bank and still leave me with a pretty sizeable sum left over: enough for
a good down payment on a new car (or another comparable used truck), or
possibly even to buy a halfway-decent used car outright. Unfortunately,
I haven't been able to make up my mind as to which of these options I prefer,
and I haven't really been out to do any car shopping yet. The weather's
getting cold enough now, though, that not having a car is really starting
to suck, so I'll probably have to stop procrastinating soon!
- My mother's coming to visit me over Christmas, along with
my stepfather and my grandmother. I'm really looking forward to
that (even though they can only stay a few days). Grandmom, especially,
I don't get to see often, so I'm really glad she could make it. This
does mean that I feel like I actually need to put up a tree this
year (I know, I'm such a humbug!), but I'm waiting until Christmas Eve
to give the cats less time to knock it down.
- And on that subject, I'd like to wish everyone a very happy
holiday season and all the best for the year 2000! I'm not interested
in the Y2K bug, or the debate about when the new millennium starts, I
just like the fact that "2000" sounds so... science fictional.
November, 1999
- Well, for anyone who hasn't yet heard, the bad news
is that I wrecked my truck. :( I was driving up to Albuquerque (with
two other people, yet), and... Well, what happened is this: I got
kind of distracted looking at the car behind me and trying to figure out
whether it was going to change lanes or not, and started to drift off the
road towards the median. When one of my passengers warned me about
this, I quickly turned the wheel back to the right -- and overcompensated.
We started fishtailing as I tried to regain control of the truck, although,
amazingly enough, we didn't hit anybody. At that point, I intended
just to tap the brakes very lightly to try and slow us down a bit so I
could regain control, but I guess I sort of panicked, because my foot acted
with a mind of its own, came down way more heavily than
I meant to, and... Well, after that it gets a bit confused in my
mind, to be honest, but apparently what happened is that we rolled -- twice!
-- and came to rest right-side-up on the dirt median. I wasn't even
hurt at all, beyond a few bruises and some very minor neck pain. The
two guys in the truck with me were bumped and battered a lot more than I
was, but not seriously injured, thank goodness! (Frankly, the hospital
experience was worse than the crash -- at least that was over with in a
few seconds! -- but I'd just as soon not dwell on it. Suffice it to
say that it's a good idea not to crash anywhere near Socorro General if you
can help it.) The truck was totaled, alas, but the insurance company
has been really good to deal with, and is going to give me more than enough
to pay off the bank. (I still had nearly three years of payments to
go. Sigh.) Anyway, mostly I'm just really, really glad that
things weren't any worse, because there are a million ways they could have
been. And there's almost something kind of cool about being able to
say "I rolled my truck. Twice. At 75 mph. And I walked
away!" But I really did like that truck. And the fact that I
just sunk $900 into it a few months ago kind of hurts. Oh, well.
This does mean that now I'm going to have to go shopping for another vehicle,
an experience I'd been hoping not to have to repeat for a few years.
At the moment, I'm still unsure whether to get another truck, or to go with
a car instead.
- What with one thing and another, I still haven't got the page
on my Ireland trip done. I am still working on it, I promise!
October, 1999
- Yes, I'm back from Ireland! The trip was really cool,
and I very much enjoyed both the interesting historical sights of Dublin
and the beautiful scenery of County Galway. I know everyone's interested
in details, and I'm hoping to have a disgustingly detailed travelog up
here sometime in the next couple of weeks (or whenever I get around to finishing
it). Hopefully there'll be pictures, too, if I can find someone to
scan them in for me. Stay tuned!
- Both cats were in excellent, healthy condition when I got
back, for which many thanks are in order to my next-door neighbor, Kathy!
And I'd swear Nova got bigger while I was gone... This week I need
to take them both in for their shots... And here they've only just
forgiven me for leaving them alone so long!
September, 1999
- Yes, yes, I know. There was no update to this page for
August. What can I say? Somehow the month just sort of slipped
by me. To compensate, there's a lot new in my life to report
this month...
- The obvious thing, of course, is that the Ireland trip is
now coming up on me hard and fast! In fact, I'll be airborne in
less than a week as I write this! Oddly enough, now that it's looming
in the immediate future, it almost seems kind of hard to believe we're
actually going... I am very excited about it, though!
Right now, I'm just hoping that there's nothing hideously important that
I'm about to forget to pack...
- On the downside of things, I just found out that the trip
is going to mean that I'll miss "Weird
Al" Yankovic's appearance in Albuquerque in October. There aren't
that many things, really, that I would have been willing to miss that
particular show for, but the Ireland trip is most emphatically one of them!
Ah, well. Just goes to show that every silver lining has a cloud.
Or something like that.
- But the Ireland trip isn't the only major piece of news this
month! (See, I said there was a lot!) Quite without
intending to, I somehow ended up getting another cat. My next-door
neighbor found this scrawny little kitten in my front yard... and, well,
naturally I ended up keeping him. Cats just sort of happen that way.
Anyway, he's certainly no longer scrawny, and he sure is a cute little
guy! I've named him "Nova": in large part simply because he's new,
in small part as some sort of strained astronomical metaphor about him "bursting
unexpectedly into my life," but also after a Blake's 7 character
who got killed off in the second epsisode and, to my mind, was never
properly memorialized. Happiness was extremely
displeased at first, but seems to have gotten more-or-less used
to him now, although they do tend to engage in rather vigorous wrestling
matches several times a day.
- And, just to cap it all off, I suppose I ought to mention
that I've been suckered into taking the job of Central Mailer for Phoenix next year...
Unlike my cushy Presidential post this year, the CM position involves
actual work, and a position of repsonsibility -- two things
I generally try to avoid! But since nobody else was willing to do
it... (Actually, that sounds way too unenthusiastic.
I am expecting it to be kind of fun. Silly me.)
July, 1999
- We have plane tickets for Dublin!!
June, 1999
- In the grand tradition of automobile problems happening at
the most inopportune possible time, it turns out my truck needs some
major repair work done, including replacing the rotors on the front brakes.
This is rather depressing, as it means less cash for the Ireland trip,
but at least they just recently raised my credit card limit again...
- On a happier note, this past month has been a pretty eventful
one for us science fiction fans! Besides the long-awaited premier
of the new Star Wars
movie , we also had the series finale of Star Trek: Deep Space 9 .
Personally, I had somewhat mixed feelings about both... But I'm
looking forward to the the next Star Wars installment, and I'm
already missing DS9... I think the movie project I'm most excited
about these days, though, is the upcoming film version of Lord of the Rings .
May, 1999
- Well, the walking tour of Ireland is definitely a go for October!
I've also got my passport, finally. Now all we need is those plane
tickets!
- Meanwhile, I ended up taking a small vacation this month when
my sister and brother-in-law came to visit me from Oregon for a week.
We did a lot of driving around New Mexico, visiting (among other places)
Carlsbad Caverns and
Bandelier National Monument .
I had a lot of fun, and it was wonderful to spend some time with them.
After the Ireland trip, my next vacation is going to have to be spent
in paying them a return visit!
April, 1999
- The Ireland trip's hit a small snag: the tour we were planning
to take in August was cancelled because there weren't enough people signed
up. Right now, it looks like we're going to be going with our second-choice
tour in October, but I've been having trouble getting in touch with the
person in charge (or, to be more accurate, we've been having trouble getting
in touch with each other), so things are still a bit up in the air.
Tour or no tour, we are going...
- My thoughts and good wishes go out to my father who's just
come through an operation to have his gall bladder removed. Hang
in there, Dad!
March, 1999
- Plans for the Ireland trip are continuing... We've made
reservations for the walking tour
. The next step is to arrange for our accomodations in Dublin (since
we're doing this on the cheap, we're probably going to be staying in a
hostel ) and getting our plane tickets.
Other issues that still need to be dealt with: getting a good pair of
hiking shoes (I found a pair on sale cheap that felt great in the store
but proved to be a tad too small when I actually took them on a trial
walk), and figuring out just how I'm going to manage to take my hiking
stick on the plane.
February, 1999
- Well, plans for that trip to Ireland I mentioned a whole year
ago are finally coming together. We're going to be taking a walking tour of the
Irish countryside, probably in August, as well as spending a few days
in Dublin . Right now,
I'm working on getting my passport , which
I should be able to do as soon as I get my birth certificate from my
mother.
- Other than that, I haven't been doing a whole lot of interest.
I've been taking a few short hikes now and then -- gotta get in shape
for all that walking around Ireland! I've started playing in a Star Wars RPG .
And I've been slowly working on setting up the computer my dad thoughtfully
sent along to me when he got his new one. (Thanks again, Dad!)
January, 1999
- Once again, I hope everybody's holiday season was pleasant.
Mine was: I spent Christmas with an old friend I hadn't seen in years,
and New Year's with my mother, stepfather, sister and brother-in-law in
California. And many thanks to Mom for the CD player, Dad for the
cool photo, and Kathy for the Avengers videos!
- As of this month, it's official: I am the new president of
Phoenix APA
. Hey, it's a dirty figurehead position, but somebody's gotta do
it!
December, 1998
- Hey, you know me: the big event in my life this month was the
premiere of the new Star Trek movie,
Star Trek: Insurrection
! I'll have to see it a few more times before I can decide
where to put it in my own personal ranking of the movies... I enjoyed
it, but, well, it was still an odd-numbered Star Trek movie.
- I had a very nice Thanksgiving: a great Thanksgiving dinner
hosted by a generous co-worker of mine, followed by a pleasant hike the
next day to help work off the calories. Now I'm looking forward
to visiting my mother over New Year's...
- And, speaking of which, I'd like to wish all of my loyal readers
(that's what, two of you?) a very happy holiday season and all good things
in the year 1999!
November, 1998
- Well, to tell you the truth, I guess not a lot of interesting
stuff has happened over the past month. I started playing in an
Amber game.
I made plans to visit my mother over New Year's. I got the oil changed
in my truck. I got a haircut. I read a lot of books . All-in-all,
not a bad month, even if it does sound kind of boring...
October, 1998
- The New Jersey trip went very well. It was nice to get
back to my old stomping grounds, and I got to see a lot of people and
places I hadn't seen in years. It was especially cool to see some
of my cousins, many of whom went and grew into adults on me since I'd seen
them last... although that did actually make me feel kind of old!
- I still had some vacation time left after I got back from
NJ, and I used it to make a short camping trip with a couple of co-workers
near Mt. Withington in the Cibola
National Forest . It got rather uncomfortably cold at night,
but otherwise it was a great trip: beautiful clear skies for stargazing,
and the aspen on the mountains starting to turn that amazingly vivid yellow
color... It'd been over a year since I last did any camping, and it
was very, very nice to get out in the wilderness again, even if
only for a short while.
September, 1998
- The new truck is performing very well, and I'm still quite
happy with it. I just had it inspected for the insurance company,
which is the last little bit of paperwork that needed to be done on it.
Haven't taken it out off-roading yet, but I expect I'll get to that eventually.
It's already proved very useful for hauling stuff around... and it's amazing
how much more pleasant those long drives up and down I-25 are in a vehicle
with air conditioning and a tape deck.
- The end of this month, I'm finally (after several years) taking
a trip back to my original home state of New Jersey to visit relatives, most notably
my grandmother and my father. Thanks for the plane tickets, Dad!
I'm really looking forward to it!
August, 1998
- Well, the loaner car that died on me last month has returned
to its home in Farmington, where it will either get the medical care
it needs or end up on the junkpile. I wish it well. Meanwhile,
after walking everywhere for a month, I finally bought me that truck!
Yes, I am now the proud owner of a 1993 Dodge
Dakota pickup! (Or rather, I will be the owner in four years
when I've paid off the bank, but why quibble?) It's a bit more truck
that I'd told myself I was going to buy, really: 4-wheel drive, club cab,
V-8 engine... But I'm really happy with it. Yup, I'm a real New
Mexican now!
July, 1998
- Well, two days after I wrote the June entry I got a call from
the insurance company. The guy decided to settle for the $10,000
I was covered for. Whew! So that's all over and done with,
and worked out OK for me. Which is especially good, because...
- The loaner car I've been driving died on the way to Albuquerque
the last weekend in June. As I write this, it's still stranded up
there (I got a ride back with some incredibly good-hearted friends) and
may or may not ever be able to make the trip back. Ayy! It's
definitely time for me to buy that truck I've been planning on.
- On a non-automotive note, this month marks my 27th birthday!
And I'm already starting to get grey hairs. Sigh...
June, 1998
- Well, I still haven't heard anything
from the insurance company. They told me it might take a while...
Oh, well. If I don't hear from them in a few weeks, I'll probably
give them a call, but for now I'm attempting to believe that no news is good
news...
- My story won in Phoenix's Flash Fiction
Contest ! I'd like to thank all the little people...
May, 1998
- As of last month, the local cable company
has finally provided us with the Sci-Fi
Channel . Geek that I am, I'm extremely happy about that. Now
I can watch all those great shows I'd been missing: Alien Nation ,
Forever
Knight , Mystery Science
Theater 3000 ...
- On a far less pleasant note... Apparently
the car accident I had back in September is coming back to haunt me.
The insurance company told me in November that they'd settled the claim
and everything was OK, and I'd thought that was the end of the matter.
Now, six months later, apparently the guy I hit is claiming that he's got
more damage that wasn't covered in the first settlement. The really
bad news? He wants more than I'm covered for, which means I could
be liable for $1000-$2000. Yipes! The insurance company says they're
going to try and talk them down or something, but this may mean that the
money I'd saved up to replace my own vehicle may be disappearing down the
drain. Wish me luck, and stay tuned for the next chapter in this exciting
saga..
April, 1998
- Well, I put it off as long as I could,
but I finally got my taxes done. And
I had to pay on my federal taxes again this year. I'd really like
to know exactly what the government's doing with all my money...
- I've just heard from my dad and his
wife that they're now on line with internet and WWW access. Wow. My father's
on the web! Who said parents were uncool? So... Hi, Dad! Hi, Janice! [Virtual
wave] Welcome to cyberspace! If you do get a homepage set up, let me know,
and I'll put a link to it on my links page .
March, 1998
- This month marks the first wedding anniversary
of my sister Kathy and her husband Gary. Congratulations, guys! It's
nice to know there are still those out there willing and able to take
the matrimonial plunge!
- It looks like the Ireland trip (mentioned
below) is going to be postponed until sometime next year, due to financial
reasons. But we're still determined to get there sooner or later, so
stay tuned...
- It's been pointed out to me that some
of the images on these web pages haven't been loading properly for people
who use Internet Explorer. I think I've fixed that problem now, but if
anyone is still having problems with this, please let me know .
February, 1998
- I am adjusting reasonably well to my
once-again-single status (aka the "unhappy circumstances" mentioned below)
and to my new place. Once I get some decent blinds on that east-facing
window in the bedroom (a must for when I'm working the night shift), I
should be all settled in, more or less.
- I just had my kitten, Happiness, spayed.
Little Happiness was understandably unhappy for a while, but at
least I know she won't be contributing to the disturbingly large population
of unwanted cats here... And I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage
everybody with pets to have them spayed or neutered,
too.
- A friend and I (Hi, Jeannine!) are thinking
of taking a trip to Ireland
later this year. We're still very much in the planning stages,
and I'm not at all sure I'm going to have the money for it, but nevertheless
any travel tips anybody out there might have will be gratefully received.
January, 1998
- Due to a rather unhappy set of circumstances
in my personal life, I am in the process of moving. Friends who don't
have them yet can e-mail me for my
new phone number and snail-mail address, but should be prepared to listen
to me bitch about the "unhappy circumstances."
December, 1997
- My Thanksgiving trip to California went
quite well. Many thanks are due to my Mom and her husband Charlie for their
much-appreciated early Christmas present to me: an official Swiss Army Knife . Now I can
live out all my MacGyver-ish fantasies!
- I'd like to wish everybody a happy holiday season, and all
the best in 1998!
November, 1997
- Earlier this month, I got to see Jethro Tull on
the last day of their US tour. Jethro Tull is one of my top three favorite
bands, and believe me, they are awesome live!
- Over Thanksgiving, I'm heading off to Barstow,
CA to visit my Mom. My sister, brother-in-law and grandmother will
be there, too, so in addition to Thanksgiving, we're also having a family
Christmas in November.
- This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Phoenix APA.
Phoenix is an organization for amateur writers and artists to showcase
and receive comments on their work, and for fans of science fiction,
comics and movies to interact with people of similar interests. If that
sounds attractive to you, be sure to check out the Phoenix Web Page : we're always
looking for new members!
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