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Warning: Random Thoughts Are Everywhere

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Friday, 5. June 2009, 22:30:06

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OK, so it decided not to send my text with the picture. You can't really read the side of the van, but it says, "National Severe Storms Laboratory." The driver (I think it's a guy, but I've been trying to peek through the curtains clandestinely) seems to just be talking on the phone right now. He's been parked in front of the office for quite awhile now though. Not the most comforting thing considering that this is tornado season. I checked the weather right after I sent this picture from my phone and guess what? Yep. Cheyenne County is under tornado watch until 10pm MST MDT. :rolleyes: The good news is, at least he might warn me if something is noticed since he's camped out in my parking lot. :lol:



28 comments

Teeccino

Monday, 1. June 2009, 04:27:53

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I've committed the ultimate form of sacrilege— I bought a coffee substitute. :o:

I was in Cheyenne, Wyoming Saturday doing some shopping and stopped at one of the health food stores. While browsing around in there, I came across this stuff and decided that the Teeccino was worth a shot. I'll try most anything Chai flavored and it was actually pretty tasty. I haven't tried any of the other flavors yet, but I intend to. I'm curious to see just how close the "original" flavor tastes to real coffee. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a big fan of coffee, but I wanted something to drink every once in awhile that didn't have as much caffeine and I draw the line at decaf coffee. I get heartburn like crazy from decaf and this stuff doesn't bother my stomach in the least. :yes:

Bear got his first bath at a groomer Saturday too. :D He looks so cute and fluffy right now. He was giving me the "eyes" when I handed him over to the nice people at Petco, but they said that he did really, really well. :smile: He didn't get his haircut, since the lady that does the hair was out that day, but I've got an appointment to have that done in July. :D

I didn't really get much while I was there. I got a cast iron panini press (and for much cheaper than on Amazon), so that ought to be fun to use. :D I love panini sandwhiches and I have a griddle that will work perfect with it. :yes: I found a really cute white tank with lacy trim to go with a blouse/jacket that I have. :up: I love the blouse, but I didn't have a shirt to go under it that looked good with it. I got some books at Barnes and Noble (but I still forgot to get "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" Homer: Doh! ). I bought some other stuff, but I doubt anyone wants to hear about my shopping at Sam's Club. :lol:

I made the mistake of takeing a nap this afternoon, now I'm too awake to sleep, but just tired enough that I'm not really functional. :sigh: Not that I'm that functional when I'm awake right now due to allergies, but it's the idea that counts. :lol:

Ok, I think I better get off before I bore people to death reading this. :lol:

46 comments

Guess What?

Tuesday, 19. May 2009, 22:29:48

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So, What is Raynaud's?
Raynaud's Phenomenon (or Syndrome or Phenomenon) is when the blood vessels someone's hands and/or feet (sometimes the nose, tip of the tongue, or ears) spasm due to cold or emotional stress and stop blood flow. This can last anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. The affected extremities usually turn white from lack of blood flow, blue from lack of oxygen, then red from the blood resuming flowing, but this isn't always the case. When the blood starts flowing again, you can experience minor tingling or painful throbbing.

There isn't much to be done to treat Raynaud's though. Most people aren't too bothered and just make sure that they keep their hands protected from the cold. If it's bad enough, a doctor usually prescribes a calcium channel blocker, alpha blocker, or vasodilator to help relax the blood vessels and reduce the severity and number of attacks.

I'm still alive. :lol: OK, lame, but there it is. I haven't been in the mood for doing much on the computer lately. I'm not sure why. I guess I just needed a break for awhile.

Not much is going on. It's currently about 94°F (34.4°C) out right now. That's pretty dang hot. I've been running the AC in the office to keep it bearable in here, but it's just plain hot out. I make sure Bear has enough fresh cold water available in here. I'd hate to have him get dehydrated. :frown:

Some of you know that I was seeing the doctor about some problems with my hands. Some of it was an irritated nerve, but it turns out that I also have something called Raynaud's Disease too. It still beats having arthritis or anything like that though. They did test for vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and thyroid issues to be on the safe side though. Happily, as noted above, I don't have any of those. :D

Sorry if I bored you with the info on the side. :lol: I enjoy researching and reading about some of this stuff. :left: Unfortunately for some, I think everyone else in interested in it too. :lol:

This is the first time I've found a good use for an info box. :D I'll try to use them a little more often. I rather like how they look. :D If you're interested in the code for them, this blog has what you need to know about it. :wink: The first comment on there is really informative as well. :D

Due to all the dark clouds and the drop in temperature, I have the radio on in the background. It's tornado season and sudden changes in temp usually aren't your friend. I'll bring one of my weather radios tomorrow, so I don't have to listen to this crappy music that they're playing. :cringe: Rock station, my ass! :rolleyes: Every once in awhile, they play some good songs, but it's not very often.

I think that sums up my update for today. :yes: Tune in next time for...I'm not sure what, but I think I can come up with something. :wink:

13 comments

Stand By Me

Saturday, 2. May 2009, 15:37:04

A friend sent me an email with a link to a Youtube video of "Most Amazing Rendition of Stand By Me You Have Ever Heard." I'll admit, that I do like the song for some bizarre reason, but this is one of the best and neatest versions that I've heard of it yet. It's about five and a half minutes long, but it's well worth watching. Here's the blurb on the hosting site:

From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music," comes the first of many "songs around the world" being released independently. This amazing version of “Stand by Me” brought a smile to my face, and I hope it will do the same for you. Watch it from beginning to end—you won't regret it. This cover of Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world! It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician named Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Elliott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley's base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz's added metal percussions. From there, it just gets better and better: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals, which were assembled into this final final version -- all done with a simple laptop and some microphones. Amazing!





Direct link

The site itself: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/30/Stand-By-Me-Around-the-World.aspx

9 comments

Quiet Riot

Thursday, 23. April 2009, 16:30:11

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OK, so maybe the title is a tad misleading since I'm not referring to the band "Quiet Riot." :lol: Lately I've had one or two of my bosses and/or some of my coworkers around. This is one of the few days of quiet that I've had. *sigh of relief*

I did get some things done, even with the guys in the office. One of my projects lately was to make cushion things for the armrests of my office chair. The past few weeks I've been having some trouble with my hands. The doctor thinks it's either tendonitis or an irritated ulnar nerve, and judging from the way my elbow felt when I moved it across the armrest the other day, part of the issue is definitely an irritated nerve. :lol: Hopefully, it's just the nerve and I don't have tendonitis along with it. Anyway, here's what I came up with for cushions (sewing really isn't my strong suit, so they might look funny):


Here's the fleece material I used. I chose the fleece stuff, since it's soft and I don't have to hem it. *whew*


I filled them with rice (so they could double as a heat pack if I wanted or needed them for that), sewed on some velcro straps to hold them to the rests, and viola! an armrest cover. :yes:


Top view

side view


I might do a set with polyfill stuff since the rice works, but I can't tell if it's continuing to irritate the nerve or not. Alright, it's time for another break from the computer. :lol: I have an office that needs cleaned (now that there aren't people wandering in and out of it frequently).

128 comments

Yikes!

Sunday, 5. April 2009, 18:57:01

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I just thought I'd post a few pictures of our drifts from yesterday. :lol: Nothing too interesting, but that's what I had for weather yesterday.

This is a "before" picture from about 1 pm yesterday.


Here's the "after" picture from today.
It's hard to really wee the drift there, but it's about 3 feet tall, give or take (more like give) a few inches.

The bush near the apartments north of me.


The drift next to my apartment. Lovely isn't it? :lol: I should have taken the picture a little closer to the ground, so you can see the "wave" better.


Hopefully, the snow has worked itself out of the area and we don't get another spring storm. These blizzards are a freaking nightmare.

133 comments

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Sunday, 5. April 2009, 05:53:49

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In lieu of the fact that we had horribly crappy weather, that kept me near the house all day. It wasn't too bad around noon, so I was able to go grab a few things at the store. However, the hair appointment I made at the salon in Sidney had to be canceled. Driving around town is one thing, but driving 30 miles to get my hair done and get some groceries to make it worth the trip was out of the question. :down: The picture I have up was taken around 4:30. I wish that I'd taken a few pictures of the huge drifts in the yard. :lol:

At any rate, since I was home I thought I'd try to make some naan to go with the daal (or daal attempt, whichever you prefer) that I made the other night. :D There's a danger to talking to people on the web. I hear about interesting food that they rave about, so I usually decide to try it. :lol: So far, I've had some excellent results and the daal and naan were no exception.

I sifted my dry ingredients (except the yeast) into a large bowl:









Next, I heated some yogurt and milk together until it was warm.







Then it was time for my favorite part- mixing the dry and wet ingredients and then kneading them. I love kneading bread! There's just something about the way the dough feels when your kneading it. :yes:








After it was done rising, I did all the little steps I needed to do to get it ready to cook. :D Here's the finished meal. The daal isn't much to look at, just lentils and onions (because Captain Brilliant forgot to grab cauliflower for it), but it's tasty, especially with fresh baked bread. :yes:
I admit that I like days like this where I can just relax and bake or cook something for the heck of it. Even if I add a few extra steps to the whole thing. :lol: One of the recipes I saw for naan had ghee in the ingredients, so I made that too. I'm not sure if I did it right, but it was fun at any rate. :lol: It's been a long while since I've had this much of a chance to really mess around in the kitchen, so I made the most of it while I could.

I think I had quite the productive day, wouldn't you say?

13 comments

If You Were Wondering

Thursday, 2. April 2009, 20:14:22

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I've had a few people ask what it is that I actually do while at work (besides screw around on the computer). For the most part I just answer the phone, handle the email, scan invoices, etc. Then there are days like this when I get to do our quarterly paperwork. I file the IFTA (our fuel and mileage reports on certain vehicles) and fill in whatever data our data provider has added (filling out the questionnaire, loading certifications, etc.). The data provider sucks horribly in my opinion, but this quarter they really outdid themselves- the redesigned the site. The design before wasn't too bad, although it was still a pain to navigate. Now, it's wickedly ugly and an even bigger pain to navigate. They also added more crap to our questionnaire. That thing is a nightmare anyway, particularly the first time you do it, but they still want to make sure that they get whatever info they want. We don't do any work in Canada or Australia, so I'm skipping those questions until they're mandatory (about 500 or so questions at least). :lol: I usually only have to answer about 75 to 100 (on the US, General, and Company Specific sections) new questions a quarter. :left: Just in case you're interested in seeing some of the site:

The log-in page.

Click for larger

My "Welcome" page.
Click for larger

The main categories of the US section. There are a bunch of sub-categories with those. :rolleyes:
Click for larger
And that is part of what I do at work. :lol: Definitely not interesting, but there it is.

Oh, one last note: You have to use Internet Explorer. It won't work with any other browser. :cry:

40 comments

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