Great Big World Out There

chainsaws

So yesterday was my mom's birthday.  I've missed her birthday for the past few years - because I was working on stuff that could.not.wait. or I was recovering from a flight back from Australia.

So I wasn't missing her birthday this year, despite other interesting invitations throughout the weekend.

Anyway.  Birthday party in July means that we will all be outside.  So all the crap that didn't get done since last year's birthday party suddenly must get done.  Therefore, we spent hours mowing lawns, hauling gravel and in my dad's case, chopping down trees. 

The trees by the house have become, well, overgrown.  They've grown around the yard light and through the power lines attached to the house. 

Now I would have trimmed the branches around the powerline, but not my dad.  He just cut through the largest branch he could find that was intertwined with the powerlines.  Surprisingly, did not destroy the power link to the house but did kind of knock over the powerpole.  He destroyed my mom's clothesline. I laughed my ass off for about 10 minutes.  He just stood there with a goofy grin and smilingly said, 'oh, shit!'

My dad isn't a particularly stupid person - in many ways he is smarter than I am.  Perhaps having a chainsaw in your hand makes you stupid?  Lowers your IQ?  I have some trees I would like to remove from their ineffecient or dead locations, so I am kind of nervous.  I do not wish to lose my leg/arm/head so perhaps I should leave the dead trees and inconvenient trees where they are?

Decisions, decisions.

In other news, I had some shrubs at church that needed trimming.  Sylvia started working on them earlier this week since she was there and had a) time and b) trimmers.  I'd meant to trim them several times on several different trips but never remembered to bring the trimmers.  I trimmed everything, and then had to return my ladder to it's home plus traipse the branches over to the trash bins.  I set the clippers on the running board of my car.  Fully intending to put it IN the car before I left.  Why didn't I just stick it in the car when I put them on the running board?  I think it was locked and I figured I would remember in the 40 seconds it to me to walk to and from the trash bin.

I was wrong.  Didn't remember until I got home and saw them still sitting on the running board.  Heh.

132 friday fill in

And...here we go!

1. The last thing I ate was horseradish potato salad and scrambled eggs.

2. A bottle of iced tea is something I recently bought.

3. When it rains, it seems the Eskimos cannot win a game.  Arkee Whitlock?  What the hell was that performance?

4. Val was the first person I talked to today.

5. Hugs are extra nice when from a little niece.  Last week I was celebrating Canada Day here with Sarah.  She did something cute, or I had said something about what a lovely little person she was for something she had said or done and she asks me all shy-like 'Can I have a hug?'  I have only recently recovered from the puddle of goo that request turned me into.

6. Mopping my flooded basement was done in extra comfort.  Not.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching football on TSN, tomorrow my plans include a birthday party and Sunday, I want to enjoy the hot weather and possibly mow my lawn!

potato salad

I love potato salad.  I adore potato salad.  I could make a meal out of just potato salad.  I was wandering around the internet the other day and discovered a recipe for horseradish potato salad.

I made that salad tonight and Holy Shit.  That is some goooooood potato salad.  I used the ultra fat sour cream, which certainly didn't hurt the outcome.  Damn.  I'm in potato salad heaven right now.  I've got another recipe from the same site I want to try, but it is a two day process and requires cucumbers.  I didn't feel like that much effort tonight so I didn't. 

Maybe this weekend.

***

My brain is very tired.  I am getting close to finishing my revisions.  I've spent most of this week making tables.  In the wrong version of my thesis I only reported interactions since there were no main effects that weren't affected by an interaction.  Now that I have my data identified correctly everything makes sense.  Then I spent the afternoon farting around with the data based on yet another incorrect premise - I was using a covariate for a dataset where it really wasn't appropriate.  Or, more correctly, didn't really add a whole lot of oomph to the analysis.  No matter which way I analyze it, the interpretation will be the same. 

I say that, realizing that I haven't looked at the interactions again now that I removed the covariate.  Perhaps I speak too soon.  Anyway, I will finish that stuff up in the morning and work on the writing in the afternoon.  Good times, I say.  Good times.  I will submit the thesis on Friday.  Ahhhh.  Then I can start thinking seriously about building a house. 

I just can't seem to find the strength to start making all those house-building decisions.  Floors! Appliances!  Insulation!  Windows! Heating! Anti-burn stuff!  Aack!

I just want to go hide under my bed and not think about any of that.  Oi, I say.  Oi.

anemic

I am struggling to get anything done.  I begin projects in a glorious haze of excitement and burn out halfway through, leaving piles of rocks, landscape fabric and weeds to sit in the rain.  I recently rediscovered the uber comfort of my couch and I have spent many an hour peacefully reading or watching my nieces cavort in front of me.

A lovely football game the other night - except for the rain.  It hasn't rained here in months - evil clouds come up that would normally drop a deluge but not a drop has fallen.  Thursday night the rain fell in earnest.  I was not prepared other than a raincoat.  Kevin was not prepared, and I had nothing for Anna.  No rain coat.  Kevin took her downstairs and I eventually followed.

We left early because it was just miserable.  I inadvertently ended up providing play by play on the bus - injuries, a challenge to a play and that meant the game wasn't over before the bus arrived back at the parking lot.  We won, but it was painful.

I am out of words.  I can't even summon the strength to think about something to write.  I did much better when I wrote because I had to every day last year. 

I got my passport the other day - several days early.  I can officially head of to North Carolina in a couple of weeks now.

I have much to do before I go.  I hope I can summon the strength to do so,

Oi

I am sick.  So sick.  I haven't eaten anything real for days, I couldn't keep water in me yesterday at all and today I am weak like a heat stressed chicken and all I want to do is go eat a cheeseburger but I think I might die.

Seeing as I probably shouldn't drive, weak as I am.

I am doing laundry now, because I need to.  I am also watering my trees, half an hour per tree using the root waterer.  Hopefully that perks them up a bit. 

I hope I am well enough to go to work tomorrow.  I have a grant that needs editing and some thesis revisions that need completing.

I am exhausted.  Tired and exhausted.  I wonder where my cat went?  I have not seen him lately?

Why is it I am always sick when the toilet needs cleaning?  Why?  I have cleaned it now, too late for my benefit.  I should find some clean rugs as well.  You know you are sick when the prospect of laying down on the bathroom floor while waiting for the next exorcist reenactment is appealing.  Esp. when it is past time for some clean bathroom rugs.

Have I mentioned the exhaustion?  Yet here I am writing about it. 

another one into the end zone for HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

I am so pleased the football season has begun.  Pre-season is always a fun game - lots of extra people because the eskimos give free vouchers to everyone with a season ticket.  Plus we won which is nice.  Food is more expensive, beer is still cold.

I was at a silent auction back in May where I got $200 worth of Eskimo gift certificates good in their team store.  I got a killer deal because the way the items were worded was somewhat misleading - each package was worth $100 but it was written as 2 $50 gift certificates.  People saw the $50 and stopped bidding when the amount hit $60.  I am getting $80 for free! 

But what to buy?  I should get on the merchandise website and decide what I want.  I'm thinking about a crested jersey.  Those suckers are expensive and I wouldn't normally buy one.  Now I can!

Tomorrow I must revise my thesis.  I said I'd have a chapter revised before I left work today and I didn't get it done.  Stupid computer problems - it was overly full and I had to spend a lot of time dealing with that, as well as an email problem. 

Also I am exhausted but not sleepy so that does not bode well for my cleverness quotient tomorrow.  Oi.

lingering

I've been recovering from a nasty little cold with cough since before my thesis defense.  This is the same cold that took my voice a couple of days before the defense.  That little tidbit definitely calmed my nerves.  I needed something else to think about that week - I had found a major error in my data a week out from the defense, my parents anniverary was imminent, and I was feverish.  Losing my voice was just a wee bit of extra fun.

I can't shake the cough, though.  It's more than 2 weeks since the cold set in and I am still suffering at night.  I drink cough syrup like iced tea between boughts of ugly sounding coughs that shake every ounce of my tired and sore frame. 

Since the coughing isn't enough, ny neck and shoulders are acting up again.  I've been going for physio so and she's been manipulating the joints to get them moving again while teaching me some new strengthening exercises.  Some of that exercise is hard work - and I mean hard.  I suppose the reason it is so hard is the total lack of any type of muscle tone in my mid back, but ehh.  I will complain and do my exercise.  Perhaps I will be inspired to lose some weight.  Or similar. 

Tomorrow I shall work on revisions to a thesis chapter.  The easy chapter for revisions.  I've got 5 binders of comments and suggestions to go through and I have chosen to lay out every binder on my desk to labour through each page.  I have tables to revise, too.  My joy has no bounds. 

I also think I am kind of dumb  about standard errors.  I need to find my statistics for dummies book (at least my version of it) and try to figure out what the hell I am doing.  Yes, I passed the defense but I still am spending a lot of time being an idiot.  I say that knowing I am not an idiot, I am quite clever but damn.  I wish I could keep this kind of information just sitting in my brain for easy recall whenever the hell I need it.  Perhaps I should start taking some kind of memory pill?  Or perhaps consider a balanced, healthy diet instead of crap picked up on the way to or from places?

I am sure my doctor would approve. 

Ye heavens, I am tired tonight.  I couldn't sleep worth a darn last night so I spent most of the night reading.  I hate falling asleep as the sun is rising.  I had a dr appointment scheduled this morning and so I was able to sleep in.  Good thing I had no early meetings because I set my alarm for pm after a power outage yesterday.  See above about me=idiot. 

I must have walked too far today or sat funny or something because my legs are killing me.  It happens when I get tired, the nerves get all angry and make the muscles burn like the fiery hounds of hades are gnawing peacefully on my legs. 

I have blathered on quite without a plan for long enough.  Tomorrow I shall return, I hope, with news of an impending journey.  I loves the travel and I have a good one planned for July.  Then no travel for a while.  I like having a savings account.  I will blow that sucker on a big trip next year.  Maybe Australia again?  Europe?  Can't decide.  Boy my throat hurts. 

The end

heat, glorious heat

Since last we talked, I have done some stuff.  passed my thesis defense, with a wrong thesis that I must begin revising tomorrow.  I have travelled around to meetings, planted flowers, read books and generally done whatever the hell I want.

It has been lovely.

My parents celebrated their 40th, also lovely.  Lots of leftover booze and goodies. 

I went to the movies today and did some shopping.  I decided I had not enough shirts in my life and now I think I am well provided for in the shirt department.  I expect pants will be on the agenda next.  I am not currently pantsless but my wardrobe buying tends to go in spurts.  I get mad at my shirts and buy shirts, then decide I have no pants and buy pants exclusively.

I just drank a beer and I am ready for bed.  It is 9pm.  That is just lame.  Lame!

cannot speak

Really.  Laryngitis.  Must recover by Friday.  Shit.

24 and a presentation

So, Kevin bought 24 yesterday and I am watching that while throwing together my thesis defense presentation, just as I planned.

I watched the first several hours of this years season of 24 - I've finally gotten to the bits I didn't see yet.  I love this show.  I love the suspense; I love even more that I don't have to wait a week to see the next episode.  They seem to be drilling a way into the white house as the current hour begin, I could be fuzzy on the details since I'm sort of half watching.  This isn't entirely clever since I could very well be missing stuff - on my presentation and more important - on 24.

I planted a few more flowerbeds today at church.  I had a really bad migraine this morning and it was quite hot to be working in the sun so I couldn't finish the planting.  I also ran out of plants for the area I was working on so that really helped me lose my mojo.  I thought I had more shade plants and I don't.  Alas.  I also might go get some more petunias tomorrow; I have a meeting out of the office that is near a greenhouse I really like and never go to because it is so far away from me.

Then after the meeting I will go set up a wireless router for a friend.  I've never done that before, so it could be interesting.  Then I will come home and plant some more damn flowers and practice my presentation.  I know how to live, don't I?