Kevin is at the doctor’s right now. Hopefully he can get some better medicine. I wouldn’t be surprised if the doctor said he has pneumonia. I don’t know how pneumonia is different from bronchitis but I do know that Kevin has been really sick for a long time. Poor Kevin.\
Apparently, I am “very Jen.” I don’t know what that means, but I will take it!\
Yo, peeps, youse gonna watch Veronica Mars and Supernatural or I gotta knock some sense in ya?\
ETA- Sadly, I was right. Kevin has pneumonia! Who the hell gets pneumonia in the middle of the summer? Poor, poor Kevin.
Month: September 2006
Countries I’ve Visited, Because Tim Did It
Because Tim did it, I’ve done it too… and I’ve been more places than Tim. I guess it’s not fair that we went to most of the same places in Europe when we were kids. I’m protesting Portugal though… we didn’t go there as kids. When did you go to Portugal, Tim, when?
Not much has changed
Five years ago, I really thought my world was going to change drastically. I had flashes of a WW2-style life, with money being scarce for everyone, goods being rationed, and the economy in general being unstable. I remember wondering if my husband could still pay the mortgage if he lost his job and had to work for Best Buy instead. Some friends bought a brand new (expensive) minivan just days after 9/11 and I was incredulous. I thought they should have saved their money for when all hell broke loose. Did anyone else feel like this back then?\
But really? Not that much has changed for me personally. All of my military family members are out. My husband won’t ever be drafted for health reasons and my sons are too young. Gas prices are higher, but not prohibitively so. Security is higher at airports, but that is more annoying than actually life-changing.\
With all of the loss, and I am talking about more than the 3000 that died that day, I feel like there should be more of an impact here. We are destroying Iraq, and yet… I don’t know.\
I am not a Muslim, not an Arab, not a New Yorker, not involved with the military or airlines, and not suspected of any crime. I feel like the only lasting change for most of the country (and most of the country probably falls into the above category) is a general feeling of anxiety. Does anyone else feel like this?\
I am not saying things were peachy for me after 9/11. I remember the local scares, the tanks, the paranoia, the evacuations, and the talks Kevin and I had about what would we do if Max were at his mom’s if a report of a dirty-bomb went off (She had plans to immediately hit the road, but we did not). But those specific fears went away. And now I am left with what, besides an extreme distaste for Bush?
Random thoughts
I still hate school. And of course Brian woke up very early all weekend, making me wake up early too. But today, when I had to get up to take care of Max, Brian slept in. Grrr. And I think I sent Max to school in the rain, without a coat. I am a bad, bad mom.\
ABC is full of asshats, who won’t even comment on their program. What kind of leadership is that?\
I still love Supernatural! And Veronica Mars. And am looking forward to Battlestar Gallatica. What do these three shows have in common? Amazing use of music. Listen up! You will feel the love too!\
I am staying away from all of the 9/11 programs this weekend and today. Too much politicizing going on for me to stomach them.\
The Skins play tonight and Clinton Portis might play too!\
Kevin is still really sick. He can’t breathe that well or speak that well. I feel badly for him. And me. It is annoying trying to keep him stocked with juice and soup. And he keeps giving his juice away! How can I make sure there is enough for him, when he does that?\
Someone left us cookies at our doorstep last night. Whee! Brian turned down half of a chocolate chip cookie in favor of crackers. WTH?
TV Time!
I got the Supernatural DVDs today. Yippee! I highly recommend the show. It even made EW’s Top Five list last year. It’s kind of like Route 66 meets The X-Files -two brothers investigate urban legends across America as they try to find their missing father. The boys are very blue-collar, low-tech in their methods. No preternatural destiny or “Power of Three.”\
These are a few of my favorite things:
- Generous sprinkling of humor
- Random jump-scares! Wheeee!
- Awesome soundtrack
- The brothers’ relationship
- Nods to iconic horror movies of the past
- The lighting, camera work, and some of the special effects
- The actors are great! Jeffrey Dean Morgan!!! Wheeeee! Jensen Ackles is fab too. And even Jared What’s-His-Name from Gilmore Girls.
- Jensen and Jared have amazing on-screen chemistry.
- Emotional continuity! (Imagine that! How come more shows can’t grasp this concept? Looking at you, Smallville, Buffy, Alias, Lost, Battlestar Gallatica)\
So, quick, run out and buy it so you can catch up with the show before the second season premieres on the new network, The CW, on Thursdays this Fall!
Mashup University Videos Online
The videos from Mashup Camp are online now. Mine’s near the bottom of the page. You can hear me fly through the demo and hear my jet-lagged explanation of microformats. Good times.
Highlights in an Otherwise Disappointing Day
I’ve been sick all week. It finally got bad enough that I went to the doctor today and… I’ve got bronchitis. Hooray! I’ve got steroids and an industrial-strength decongestant to try to get the gunk out of my chest. I’ve been exhausted and in pain all week. I’m still exhausted and still in pain (it’s amazing how painful coughing gets after a while). The one bright spot? I got to drive my car to the doctor’s office, and it was great.\
The only other bright spot was that Jen finally has her own laptop, and she’s running linux! It’s a swanky used IBM ThinkPad T40 from Ombligo. It’s now running Ubuntu and she’s happily surfing, e-mailing and playing with background images. The install was painfully easy. The only weird part was getting the wi-fi working, and getting it to stay working after a reboot. But, even after fixing that, the total install, install updates, install missing software (RSS reader, Thunderbird, blog client) and fixing the wi-fi took about an hour (off and on between coughing fits and naps).\
Gotta look for the little bright spots.
Grrrrrr.
I hate school. Getting up at 6:30 to get Max feed, dressed, and out of the door is just too frakkin’ early! Let’s go back to summertime! Summertime was great! Boo to school and fall and holidays coming up.
Happy Labor Day
I was going to drive my new car around today with a general excuse of “errands”, but I’ve come down with the flu, which is awesome. I’m achey (compounded by furniture moving pain leftover from Saturday), feverish, congested and have a wonderful headache.\
Hopefully, it’ll clear up by tomorrow so I can take the new guy to lunch and work on the very cool prototype I’m trying to get done this week.\
Oh, and so I can drive my car.
My Big Fat Swedish Day
Not only did Jen and I go to Ikea today and fill up the van with build-it-yourself boxed Swedish furniture, but after we got back and unloaded the van, I went and bought a very swanky 2002 Volvo S80. I sent a picture to Flickr, but it hasn’t shown up yet… (so I just uploaded it.).\
Yes, I know that the S80 wasn’t on the list. I went to Don Beyer intending to get a lovely little blue S60. But, as soon as I got there, it came back into the lot with a very happy person who ended up buying it. So, as I was considering my options, I wandered through the lot, and what did I spy? A lovely grey luxury car priced well below blue book that fell right into my budget. So, I found my favorite sales person (her name is Namaste, and she’s very nice… if you go to Don Beyer Volvo in Sterling, ask for her) and asked if I could take it out. She handed me a key and a plate and off I went. Since no one’s around AOL on Saturdays, I took it and whipped around campus a couple times. Wow. It’s an incredible drive, and a lot nimbler than you’d expect a large sedan to be. It takes corners like a champ and has power to spare. I’m glad I got the bigger car. It’s roomier, faster, and handles better than the S60… and gets the same decent mileage.\
I’m sore from taking out the middle seat in the van and lugging boxes of furniture from store to car to home, but I’m happy. I can stop looking for a new car for at least another 8 years. Yay!\
The only problem? Jen says I’m a yuppie now that we own a Volvo. I tried to tell her that we were already yuppies because we own a minivan, but I don’t think she believes me.
