Eye Candy Friday -- Snow in April?

E.T.A. OK, I must admit that I thought today was Friday. I guess the layoff this has affected my sense of time. So go ahead and tease me. Time for me to get a new schedule--and stick to it!

You know, though, this "snow in April" thing is good for a WTF Wednesday...

Driving along Route 344, through Bash Bish Falls State Park.
Snow. At 1,600 feet (yikes!).

On my way to meet JessaLu for dinner... :-)

Only on LawnGuyland...

From the suburban oasis that brought you Joey Buttafuco and Jessica Hahn, comes this gem of a guy...

Man Sues Wife for $1.5M for Kidney
WTF?!?!? And he's a surgeon??? Oh yeah--this guy will certainly do well out in the dating pool.

AND... I just heard this story on BBC News on Vermont Public Radio. How embarrassing...

Ambush

That meeting yesterday--it was an ambush. Ron Crisman, et al, are back rehashing the same old lies and irrelevant points (safety, insurance, gun condition, etc.), trying to mug us get the gun, this time using the Senate Institutions committee. Jim got less than 24-hours notice to show up for this (and no option to conference call in) and was given no background information to prepare for it, but it was obvious from the minute he walked in that it was all well planned out by the perpetrators. Absolutely disgusting.

So now we have to figure out where we go from here. The whole thing just sucks the life out of ya.

I'll be up in Vermont tomorrow night. I'll try to come up with something more pleasant (maybe even fibery) to show you.

Oh crap...

It just dawned on me as I'm was studying for my Litigation Deux midterm (which is in 2 two days) that I neglected to add the appropriate courts to ALL of my case citations for my final Legal Research papers. I'm such an idiot! If there's one thing that I know, it's citation format, and I botched it! Big time!!!

I'm going to go back through my papers and add the courts (marked in red to further identify my idiocy), generate PDFs and e-mail them to my instructor--not to resubmit, but to let him know that I know better and how much of a careless ass I know I am.

I can't believe I did that, after everything. The one thing I thought I had nailed. Now I just hope I pass the course.


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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld


E.T.A. Turns out I didn't screw it up. It's fine as is. Nothing like a little panicking for no reason to start the day. :-(

Finally!!!

I'm done with my Legal Research class!!! The papers are done! They've been handed in, and with the exception of half of one of them, I'm fairly satisfied with the work I did.

Of course, I had to get through the drama of the past three months that seemed to accompany this class and of course the residual drama from when I took it last spring, but let's not focus on that right now.

Drama? Well, over Christmas my laptop died and couldn't be resuscitated. Fortunately most of the work was still in paper form, but I did lose a couple of things. Then there was the take home final from professor scrooge. Nice way to spend the holidays.

Then Saturday night I go to log in to WestLaw and my account has been deactivated. WTF??? I called technical support to see if there was some kind of mistake--nope, no mistake, no access, and no chance to restore it until Monday morning. Paper were due 8pm tonight. . I started crying like a little baby--on the phone with the tech support person. Pathetic, huh?

But no matter--it's done now. I'm sitting on the train on my way home, and I'm about to take out some... KNITTING!!! Something there's been precious little of around here. So if you'll excuse me I've got a fingerless mitt to catch up with...

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

What's up with Bloglines?

I go to Bloglines this morning and I see that I have 200 new posts. And there from a different points in the last two years. And some of them are duplicates. Uh, I didn’t do that. It refreshed itself? What’s going on, Bloglines?

Staples--that was (not so) easy...

Aside from school work and work work, I've been putting together flyers for Jim for some the LHA's 2008 events. Typesetting and printing them. All four-page flyers, printed on single sheets of 11" by 17" paper. Jim has scheduled a work day on Saturday for people to come up to the house and put together the flyers for mailing--also refered to as a "lick and stick."

The jobs with smaller quantities have been easy enough for me to handle and they've already been shipped to Jim. The big job: 675 copies of the LHA's Time Line event... sigh...

I dropped it off at a Staples near Penn Station at 9:45 this morning. They told me it would be ready by 6:00pm. I would just pick it up, box it, and drop it off at the FedEx place around the corner. Easy, right?

I get to Staples at 6:05pm. They haven't even started the job yet.

Not.Started.The.Job.

They say they don't think they can finish this tonight.

In my head I'm thinking...

Yo, dude... there are no other options. This job has to be dropped off at FedEx by 9pm. I don't care what you have to do to make this happen. Pull this print job out of your a** if you have to. Job must be at FedEx by 9pm. You must finish this job in time for me to do that. End of discussion, printer boy. I'm waiting...

I very politely stated presented that thought to "printer boy." I wasn't budging until that print job was done.

WTF! WTF! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's things like this that will make your head explode if you're not careful.

Fortunately, my issue was promptly addressed by the store manager. After stifling his own panicked response (and muttering something about killing the morning printer dude), he took care of it. Even offered me a chair and a free drink. Was profusely apologetic.

Dude, as long as I make my FedEx drop off time, it's OK. Screw me on the drop off time, you're gonna have a problem.

Seriously, dude--you don't want to screw with someone who carries pointy sticks.

I walked out of staples with my print job by 7:15. Package was dropped off at FedEx by 7:20. I'm on a train by 7:30. All's better with the world.

Now as long as FedEx remembers where the house is...

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Jeopardy question

Automobiles for $600, Alex

Answer: It's almost as bad as shopping for a car.

Question: What is shopping for tires?

Yeah. Good times... NOT! I spent most of today shopping for my first set of replacement tires for my Blue Bean (a.k.a. a Subaru Forester, LL Bean Edition). Between scouring Consumer Reports online, as well as various other rating sites and message boards, and stopping by four different tires places, I think my head's going to explode. The tire places either don't have the tires that I think I want (based on Consumer Reports ratings), or the tires that they do have have some significant issues. Like being crappy on ice. Which is such sooooo not what you want for an all-wheel drive vehicle that spends time in Vermont. In the snow and ice. WTF?!?!?!?

Next week I need to call two more tire places that were closed today. Hopefully I'll have new tires within the next week or so.

Oh, and in between the tire shop stops I went to buy new eyeglasses. That's a whole other blog post story for another day... complete with cell phone photos and an accidental video.

Technology update: I figured out how to download the cell phone pictures onto a memory card, but I can't get the card reader to transfer them to my laptop. The saga goes on...

Just plain crazy

A quickie post here...

If you happen to be Malden, Massachusetts tomorrow morning, I'll be there marching in their annual Thanksgiving parade as part of the Living History Association's Time Line contingent. I'll be the frozen civil war babe in the red cape. (Tomorrow's high down there is supposed to be 35 degrees. We're marching at 10 am.)

I am so glad that my Forester has heated seats. I'll need it to thaw out my butt when we're done.

Am I crazy or what???

Blogging under the influence

Howdy. My name’s Elizzabetty. I’m back home in Vermont. I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine. (Cline Zinfandel. Mmmmmm….) This is what happens when you blog under the influence.

Jim finally got the satellite dish fixed so we can get the Vermont local channels. (Last winter a load of snow coming off the roof took out one of the satellite dishes, so we lost the some of the local channels.) I was anxiously awaiting the Burlington newscast. We put on Channel 3, and the Powerball guy came on. Jim went to get our ticket so we could check our numbers as they drew them. Guess what? Due to “technical difficulties” they weren’t gonna do a live drawing. He went on for the entire duration of what should have been the live drawing repeatedly saying “we’re not doing a live drawing.” Dude—I heard ya the first time. No need to give me a dozen variations on the theme. Fix ya freakin’ problem, why don’t ya. (Yeah, I’m so not ever gonna be a Vermonter, am I…)

After that I took a couple of more pictures. Of course, being a tinsy bit loopy right now, I forgot to zoom out to take a picture of me and Jim.

How do ya like that door?


Zoom.Out.Now!


Oh, that’s better. Sort of.

Honey, can you get me a little more wine? Please???

Next time I’ve got some knitting content for you. I stopped at Webs today. Duh. Of course I bought some yarn. (Is the Pope Catholic???)

It's probably just me

A scary little story for you...

The property taxes are due on the house tomorrow. Yesterday Jim told me that he needed me to take care of a portion of it. (I would have liked a little more notice as to the dollar amount of my portion, but that's a different story.) So, he told me how much and I figured that instead of FedExing him a check, I could just send it directly to the town clerk, especially since it has to be sent Priority (not Standard), which FedEx guarantees for delivery by 4:30pm. (Uh, I guess when you're out in the boonies, 4:30 counts for early.) So, I call the town clerk for the street address (can't use PO boxes with FedEx), I writes me check, prepares me shipping label, and drops it off with the rest of the company FedEx packages.

I should tell you that my company allows us to ship personal stuff using their FedEx account so long as we reimburse them for the cost. Since a Priority letter costs about $6 with their account, this is way cheaper--and much more convenient--than using the Postal Service!

So fast forward to this afternoon. I go on to fedex.com to track the shipment and I see that it's been delivered--to another address. A residential address--4 miles up the road from the Town Office! A couple of blocks off the state road! WTF?!?!?!?!?!?

Now I'm starting to freak out. What's up with the f%&!@'n FedEx guy? This money's due tomorrow! How the f@&k are we going to get the check from this house to the town clerk? Could the FedEx tracking be so very wrong? So I try calling the Town Clerk's office. I get the voice mail. They normally close at 2 (shit!), but on Wednesday they have office hours from 5 to 7:30 (whew!). So now I gotta wait what feels like an eternity until they reopen.

At 5:10 I try calling. Busy signal. I hang up and try again. Busy. Busy for a good 10 eff'n minutes. And now I'm thinking "great, she's got the phone off the hook." Finally, it rings. The Town Clerk answers. I start to calmly tell her that I'm calling to confirm that they received my FedEx with a portion of our property taxes, and she says "Elizabeth [my last name]?, and I say "yes," and she says "a check for $XXX," and I say "Yes! I was concerned because the FedEx tracking said it was delivered to a different address," and she says "oh yes, they delivered it to my house."

Huh?

Yeah, apparently when the office is closed in the afternoon, the FedEx guy delivers town stuff to her house. WTF?!?!?!?

I don't get it. It must be a rural area thing., but I'm guessing that's what's always going to make me the city mouse.

Oh, and by the way--the name of the street she lives on is... Poverty Row.

The irony of this does not escape me.


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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Lousy reporters

The cannon situation is still going on, even though legislation was pass and has now been signed by Governor Douglas. Two weeks ago Jim got a call from a reporter for the New York Times. She had heard about the cannon and was working on a article about it. I was cautiously optimistic that this would be a great opportunity to really publisize the story. She conducted a phone interview with Jim and since then we've been waiting to hear when the story would run.

Well, it's in today's paper and I'm so angry and disappointed. She screwed up her facts. Totally. I was so upset this morning that I sent her a two and a half page letter detailing what she got wrong and what the actually facts are, which if she had bothered to spend some time researching and reading she could have figured out for herself. I even provided her with some documentation and she still got it wrong! What the f*ck?!?!?!?!?!?!? The articles that appeared in the Burlington Free Press and Rutland Herald were far superior in terms of accuracy and balance.

I feel awful about this. I expected better coverage. Hell, I expected her to DO.HER.JOB as a reporter. Unbelievable!!!

Throughout this whole ordeal I haven't said much of anything about this to many people at work, and I definitely didn't say anything prior to any of the other articles being published. This one I've been talking about a bit. Not a lot, but enough that now I'm going to have to explain what's wrong with it. And since a lot of people I work with read the Times--and this article appeared on page 26 of the main section of the paper and many people know that about me and Jim and the unit--I'm going to have even more explaining to do.

It sucks feeling like I have to defend myself--and Jim--against the Times. It's so unfair...

- - - - - - -

I really appreciate the support you guys have given me throughout this whole thing. Jess--I think I'm going to have to take you with me to kick some asses! Thank you for all of your kind comments, even though I've sucked at acknowledging them lately. (That's another thing on my mid-year's resolution list. I'm working on it.) Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

I know it's not Wednesday yet, but WTF's with this freakin' cold?!?!? Well, actually it's the freakin' wind that's got me ticked off. Wouldn't be so bad without the wind. And yes, I do realize that most people would consider the current NYC temperature of 19 degrees bad, but compared to Jim's current temperature of 8 degrees, I don't think it's really not so bad, eh? And I should be thanking my lucky stars that I don't have to deal with any snow, especially the blowing snow goin' on up north. Eeeyikes!

So, I'm a little cranky here. Wanna know why? (Just play along with the agitated lady and say "yes".)

• I've got classes tonight. Two paralegal classes. From 6:10 to 10:20. PM.


• I'm gonna have to schlep through the cold wind from the bus stop to get to the first class. Then half-way through the first class we have to schlep over to the library, which will be either too hot or too cold (flip a coin). Again, through the cold wind. Then another schlep through the cold back to the classroom for the second class. Then a huge schlep through the cold after class back to the bus stop and then either a short or long wait for the bus. Then a schlep from the bus to the train station (oh, please let me make the train!), and if I miss the train, a half hour wait for the next one. And if I'm lucky, I'll be home by midnight.


• And despite the fact that I am a knitter, I'm shockingly lacking in knitted woolly items to keep me warm tonight!!! Seriously, WTF was I thinking this morning!!!!!

Please don't misunderstand--I'm not complaining about the paralegal classes, which really are a good thing. Seriously. They are good, even if right now it makes for one long Tuesday. But, the cold is just sucking the life out of me. It's one of those days where I'd normally take advantage of having a subway station that goes directly into my office building, shielding me from the elements, so that I wouldn't have to go outside until I reached Long Island. But no, instead I'll be repeatedly thrown to the lions winds tonight. Sigh...

Unfortunately, I have no choice but to do something I swore I wouldn't do.

Wear my mismatched red socks before the third one is done.

What can I say--I need wool for my tootsies.

Oh, and another thing--what's with the Southern VT Weather Pixie in the side bar? Doesn't she own a coat ??? WTF?????