Haunting Update

Good news! The house has been quiet and normal since my last posting, probably has alot to do with the fact the other half has not been very busy in the garage area with major power tools. Due to some odd summer weather this region got about a week ago I invested in a major UPS. All laptops, monitors, server and router are happy with their new battery friend. And they should be, it wasn't cheap. Classy little bugger, all black and sleak with a cool blue digital read-out. Kind of like a new car. It has that new plastic smell or is that the sparks from the plugging in of massive cables? Oh well, all is good in the home office once again. However I have been warned that come this fall he is going to be building more shelves for his home away from home, the shed. All I asked was to be warned first so I could pack up and move to the local coffee shop for a few hours on this day of building. Well back to project management work. Will be so happy to see December arrive, this torture will be completed and behind me finally.

Hello to my one follower!

hey, what kind of food do you three want in the house for next week? Let me know before you get in. thanks!

My house is haunted.

I swear it is for about 2 weeks now. It all first started with the router resetting itself and then it wasn't more than 10 minutes later my wireless printer shut itself off. Trust me I saw both events since I spend about 90% of my wake hours in this office. Both items are feet away from me and there was no way I could have touched the power cords since they both are feet away from my feet (not to mention hands). The lights and laptops didn't even flicker so I know it wasn't some sort of power issue plus all 100+ electronic devices in this room would have done something too. Ok, maybe not 100 but close, kind of afraid to count to be honest with you. But heck it is my work place as well as my house, and it's a big room. Anyways, that counts for 2 weird power issues. Well this past Sunday morning (approx. 3am) the ADT alarm system went off for no reason. We don't even use the service so nothing has been set on it since the original owners left. Ok didn't think too much other than being very annoyed by the alarm until it goes off again later on in the day, again for no reason. Though it might have something to do with replacing all the smoke alarms with real ones not those cheap things house builders put in new homes. But still it shouldn't have freeked out twice in one day. Oh and the reason for the replacement of all alarms, the others where going off all the time. After a few times of being thrown out of bed by a house going wacko with alarms is enough to have anyone either cut the power off to the whole house or replace all the alarms. Highly recommend the non-wired into house ones, they have batteries that last up to 7 yrs now instead of 7 weeks!

Back to the haunting issue, the house is just acting weird. I can't put my finger on it but something just isn't right. I thought I was making a wise decision by unhooking the ADT system from the house in general (not removing it, just disconnecting it from the life (power source), well not such a good idea. Must remember down the road that all upper end alarm systems on buildings are also tied into your phone lines!! Yup, I disconnected my main phone line and internet access by trying to outsmart my wacked out house! Heck it won that battle. After calling in Qwest to do some troubleshooting, the tech and I discovered how clever the old ADT folks were. By plugging the system back in to power, the home network came back to life. Well between the two tech minds we came up with back up plan to rid the evil from the house, we disconnected the speakers! Heck it can go off all it wants to now and no one will care! HA! got you house.....

And I thought this was the last of the wacky house issues until last night. I had the bedroom phone reset itself and tell me it was fully charged. Ok this might not seem to weird to most people, but this phone doesn't have that option on it. Its just a dummy phone that has a home base in another room. This happened at 1am, so I think it is time for either a visit from an electrician or a priest.....

Just a quick note...

we finally bought a couple of bikes with helmets. Ever since we moved up this way we have thought long and hard about getting bikes and joining in on the favorite outdoor activity this region loves to do. So we stopped into REI (I was actually stopping for shorts) and found the bikes were on sale and at really good prices too. So we got two bikes that can be used on and off road and we pick them up later on this afternoon after they get prepped for riding and all. Got helmets too, way to clumsy not to have head protection. So another adventure begins, lucky for us there is a really great bike path just a couple of miles from the house. Let's see if I can still remember how to ride one of those things....

Hi Jacquie and Dad.

Another fun-filled week as past by without too much damage. I am slowly getting caught up on paperwork and filing that should have been done months ago, but didn't really feel like even looking at it until recently. We all do this, so I don't feel alone on this little chore. Not much to report for this household, we did get those two pumpkin plants in the ground, now let's see if the summer heat and sunshine will help the little buggers. The onions and last year's tomatoe plants are screaming along as ususal. Did I just spell tomatoe with an "e". Oh how weird of me...kind of like me spelling main as maine (which I do all the time). Those ending "e" words can be a bit confusing but oh heck I will just pretend I grew up on the border with Canada. Duh, I did grow up on the border! I am surprised I don't have more of those English or Canadian spelling issues in my writing for work and school, but it's probably because good old spell check gets ahold of them and reminds me I am from the american school systems. And for those friends out there reading this - stop asking me to say "garage", that pronounication will never change. It's generic....

So it's Friday afternoon and the sun is out, what shall I do now?? I actually drove in Boise yesterday afternoon just to pick up a few groceries and a coffee to just get away from the office/house. It was nice just to drive with the music blaring away on the speakers. Need to do that more often, just me and the car.

Well I better go back to paying attention to some financial management school work (which I swear I am allergic to) and the lovely phone systems running across the nation (yes, that is my job). Both are going to drive me nuts. One I don't understand (it' math) and the other is aging and dying a slow and painful death. Oh well. Waiter! More coffee for this table please......

Happy Father's Day!

I have a confession to make....I am not the best at getting boxes/gifts out into the mail. Never have been the best to make it to the post office in time for the gift to arrive for that special day. However...I am batting a full 1000% right now. Not only did I get my Dad's card and gift out in time but also a graduation gift for my nephew in Philly. I feel like I have leaped a major hurdle in my life as a slug for mailing out things. Luckily for two neices whom will be visiting in July they will get to invade my closets and take home what they want instead of me trying to get it out into the mail before they both turn 30.

Well, looks like t-storms are heading our way and I still have major project work to do before the day ends. I just want my dad to realize how much he is loved and thought of each day. Hard not to think about you, I have a big picture of you and Mom sitting over on a bookshelf that I face all day long here in my office. Hope the Red Sox won! Later Dad! Love you. xoxoxo

Where did the week go??

So what shall I write about today...kind of stumped for a good topic. I guess I could talk about my week so far. College started back up this week, this semester is Managerial Finance. Should be interesting course and tough all at the same time. The last 4 classes will be dealing with just project management stuff finally. I swear you go and decide on a degree concentration but never take more than 2 or 3 classes that actually deal with the subject. This class will be dealing with financial modeling and I am already sending out emails to all my business major grads to see if I can't recruit some help.

Lately it seems my daily routine consists of coffee, work, school, coffee, school, working out, supper and then sleep. I think I need to get out more, but can't seem to find the time. I even tried to weed the garden yesteray afternoon for a nice break from the office setting and ended up having to go back to work within minutes of starting the weeding task. Well I see it as I only have to get thru to Christmas with this routine and then I can drop the school stuff. That will be a nice little present to myself. But six months later comes the student loan issue, time to pay back to Uncle Sam. Oh well at least I will have the degree I need to further my career with my company.

Oh darn, phones are ringing. Time to get back to the work part of my daily life. Later.

As I sit here watching t-storms brew around the region it makes me wonder how weather really affects a person's mood. This past winter this region experienced a gloomy 3 weeks of an inversion that placed this heavy blanket of fog like clouds over the entire valley. Talk about a depressing 3 weeks with no sun and a gray hazy over everything. The only way to escape this weather was to go up into the mountains and get above it. I have experienced inversions before, but not this long or heavy. Hope it doesn't happen again. Now as summer is here once again, the air is heavy with moisture and clouds. Starts off clear but ends up ugly by late afternoon. It's interesting though that I love to sit and watch this weather come together to create monster storms. Luckily for this region we don't get alot of bad weather and can sit back and enjoy Mother Nature at her best without having to worry about our safety and the house. Well off to stare out the window for awhile. Wonder if it will the weather will wake me up in the early morning hours like it did this morning....have to wait and see.

Not sure if I want to do this, but...

The company has decided to move our cell phones over to the corporate plan and stop paying us directly for the use of our "personal" cell phones. In a way this kind of sucks, but heck it does make sense for the company. It made me realize how attached I have become to my cell phone and it's wonderful service (ok, there is a quick ad for Verizon) and hate the fact of having to mess up the account and go with the company plan and policies. I just have this funny gut feeling things are not going to be the same anymore with my cell phone services and I will be watched by corporate on my usage (that's the sucky part since I live on the internet and Blackberry Messaging between Ryan and I).

Ryan is another tech on the team and we both work the same region. From what he has been able to find out is that BB Messager will not work any longer if we move to the corporate email services. This is not good. So I am sitting here behind my desk going over the different pros and cons to moving to the corporate account. I guess I could try it for a few months (or in my case a few hours) and see if I can live with it. Technology addictions are bad things, mostly when you eat and breath stuff. One bright spot is that I could upgrade my Curve to the new Storm and see how well that works. oh decisions, decisions.....

To a very special mother.

For the past ten years Mothers Day has always been a real downer of a day for me. My mom (or Mum, at least I still swear to this day my 1st grade teacher told me that is how it was spelled) passed away very unexpectedly. She was a loving and caring person and mother. Don't get me wrong the poor lady had her problems, but she worked hard to make everyone else happy. I can say one thing though, she was a grandmother. Known as "Grammie" to the next generation was her life after her own kids grew up and left the nest. She loved each grandchild as if they were her own children, and in a why they were hers to claim. To the older grandchildren she will be the only Grammie in their lives, its to bad the younger ones won't have those same memories. I watch my youngest sister today raise her two kids in a world without Grammie and we both wish she could be here today to see what a wonderful job she is doing. Jac- mom would be so proud of you. I know I am. Heck, three dogs and Ron is enough for me! So here is to you Jac-Q - you are a great mom and Mother's Day is now a wonderful day to celebrate again. Thanks! Weezie

Hard to believe it has been over 2 weeks since I last wrote something for the blog. Between work and college classes I guess I have been a bit busy lately, however that is not a really good excuse.

Today is one of those days as we all get older like to forget even exists. Never been a big deal to me when the old birthday rolls around. I guess growing up with so many people in one household and having someone celebrating a birthday each month of the year kind of removes anything being special about the day. I actually forgot about it until I got a b-day greeting online from the neice and nephew. Thanks guys!

Okay, since it is one of those days that you should either look back or ahead and make some new goals, I am going to make a pledge to get back in shape and workout a bit more than I have been lately. I need to put together a workout schedule and stick to it. Before I know it I am going to be on the down side of the 40s and dreading every birthday. I don't feel like I am in my mid 40s, more like mid 30s. Which I guess is good since most woman my age have grown children by now and feel like they are over the hill. I actually feel like I am just getting started with my life. My goal is to be in shape and 15 pounds less then I am now by November. Looking forward to this challenge, I am pretty sure I am can accomplish it even before summer has turned into fall, but by giving myself 6 months makes it sound like a long term goal.

Looks like summer is just around the corner for this part of the country. FINALLY! Boy, it was a long winter. I need to go and pick up a couple of tomato plants for the garden and get those in the ground in the next couple of weeks. Had a lite frost the other morning, so I will hold off putting out something that hates the cold until the snow is gone from the mountain tops.

How does a person catch and cold when it's 80 degrees outside? Easy, visit your local grocery store. That's how I was able to accomplish the impossible task since I am one of those lucky few that actually work from home full-time. Guess I need to get out into the public more often to keep my immune system up to date with the latest and greatest viruses and bugs that run rapid in the modern world. It's kind of like keeping your laptop or desktop computers up to date with the latest virus definitions and patchs (Ok, I know if I had a Mac I wouldn't have to worry about this issue!). So now we can compare out human bodies to computers. Well actually they are kind of designed the same way, the motherboard is the central nervous system, the brain is the hard drive and memory (or RAM for those techies out there), the heart and lungs are the power suppy and the rest is just extra things we need to make the rest of it work right or at least close enough for this blog. I just wish getting rid of a cold was as easy as getting rid of a computer virus (ok, so it isn't all that easy if the darn thing has you completely locked out or wiped your hard drive), but with a head cold you have it 24/7! At least with a computer virus you can walk away from the darn thing and do something else for a few moments. Or like me just move to another machine. Luckily most computer viruses today are caught before hand and we as the general public that do keep their virus software up to date (Ryan, take note here), we don't worry about something as odd as a software program made up of 0s and 1s to destroy everything we own digitally in two seconds. So on that note, I will go downstairs and feed my cold once again. I can feel my ears starting to hurt and all that does is make the room spin later on. It was not a pretty sight here in the home office by end of day yesterday. Later!

Boy, I am one pooped out puppy right now. Just spent 5 hours working the backyard gardens and still probably have another 5 to go to get everything cleaned up from the long, cold, grime winter months. Can you tell I am not a fan of winter? Big hint to anyone that is thinking about planting mint, don't do it! Unless you don't mind an alien plant that invades the entire garden by sneeking along underground and showing up in the middle of your onions! What a chore it was to get that one little plant (it wasn't little anymore mind you) and its amazing tenticles removed from the veggie garden. I think I will stick to onions and tomatos, alot safer to remove after you are done with them.

Tomorrow looks like a fun filled day. I get to spend the entire day (well hopefully not the entire day, but most of it) working on homework that is due tomorrow night. Online schooling is good when you have a full time job, but after closer examination of my schedule I noticed that I am really a full time student. Over the course of a regular college semester, the average student takes 5 classes. Well this online schooling pretty much follows that same concept, but our classes are only 5 weeks long. Well it is a dream of mine to finish this degree once and for all, so the past year has been fun and pure toture all at the same time.

I think its time for some Advil. I have a feeling I am going to be majorly sore tomorrow morning. I can feel it already.

Really short blog entry for today: it's nice outside and I am moving the office to the back patio area. Need to remember to get a patio umbrella soon, or I will bake out there by first of May. Can't beat working from home and having wireless.

Oh! I hear the UPS truck! Cool, I will be able to print again. Hate running out of toner and the only place to get it at a reasonable price is online. Off to great the truck before the dogs do.

The dog training is working! Well, I can't really call it dog training, it's more like the youngest is growing up and realizes that even though a dog biscuit got left by the oldest on her dog bed doesn't exactly mean it is for her. I noticed just a few moments ago this little mutt (oh she is not really little, about 50 pounds, but the smallest dog I have ever had) sitting quietly beside me as I work in my home office, staring very intently at an object kind of sort of under my side desk. As I drop my head down to see what is the main attraction for her, I notice the oldest dog has left the room and her dog bed. And so sitting there quietly all by itself was the dog biscuit, left to fend for itself. Normally the youngest just sneaks into the room and picks up what she wants and sneaks back out without me even noticing she was upstairs. Today was a first. She actually just in a way pointed at the object of desire and waited until I pushed her over to the dog bed to allow her to have the yummy treat. Now if I can only get the middle dog to do this. All she points at are the birds in the backyard, and I don't think she realizes she is actually suppose to do something other than point. I have watched her stand like a statue for over 5 minutes waiting I guess for the bird to make the first move. At least she is patient. Notice she is waiting on the fish to move too.

The countdown is on! Yes the weather people out there are predicting summer to show up on Monday. Only 5 days until temperatures are warm enough to do something outside.

As a kid growing up in a very northern region of the eastern US, I never got what people call "cabin fever". Guess I was to young to realize that winter was a long, cold and dark time of year. Now as a middle aged adult, I discovered the meaning this past winter. I don't live where I grew up, but do live in a region that has four seasons again. I don't count living in Las Vegas or eastern Turkey as living in an area with four seasons, more like two. Hot and cold. Winters are way to long and just as you are getting use to the time change, it changes again! This is no fair to those of us having to be concerned about time changes and time zones for our jobs.

Ok, enough about winter blues. The house is still standing, no short circuiting electric issues from yesterday. Only one more DIY electrical project for the house, the ceiling fan in the master bedroom. I think I will hire someone to do that one. Way to much over the head work, which in turns causes the household to hate each other for the rest of the day. Can't you tell we have been down this road already? The newly installed diningroom light was not a pretty sight or time. Lesson learned.

Been meaning to do this for sometime

Hello from my home office.
Nope I am not out here in blog land to find a job, got a really great one and it will go on for sometime the way it looks. I have been meaning to start a blog for about a year now, but thought my writing skills weren't up to par with the rest of the great blogs out there in cyberland. However, my attitude has changed. I have gone back to school to finish up a much needed degree and realized writing wasn't so bad after all. I still have alot to learn about creative writing, but as I have turned the corner and looking at another birthday soon to be arriving, I decided to a put my ideas and opinions out there for anyone interested enough in reading them. Plus working from home you get lonely really quickly.

Today's big event: my other half and a neighbor are putting up a new bathroom light. Hopefully they will read the breaker box info correctly and not shut the power off to the second floor. DIY stuff always scares me when the man of the house is involved. Love him to death, but projects are just not something he is good at.

Better end for now before the power goes out on the router.