I was sitting in my bed yesterday evening, reading a new Linux book, when Caligula ran into the bedroom and jumped into the window, all puffy tailed. He was watching something that was in my garden, I assumed it was a bird, or a bug, or a chipmunk, squirrel maybe? But he kept examining this creature, so I got up and looked out the window.

A big fat groundhog.

EATING MY CUCUMBER PLANTS!

I was a bit annoyed, but then thought to get my camera, because even evil garden-eating groundhogs are supercute.

I got a picture of him running away.

I’ve looked a little online for some animal repellant stuff, most contain rotton eggs. The trouble with rotton eggs is that my garden is right next to my bedroom window. I’ll keep looking at my options, maybe there is some non-nasty stuff I can find at the Home Depot or something.

It feels so good to write pretty html and css for website, and have all sections validate properly on the first try. Especially when validation is the last thing on your mind when writing it. I think the contract work I did this year helped push my html and css skills further than anything in the past 5 years.

This week I started putting together a little website about housekeeping and stuff. It started out as just a bunch of text files in my home directory so I’d remember how long to boil eggs and bake potatoes, but I figured it’d be nice (and fun!) to make it into a whole website that I can share, especially after a friend of mine said she’d be interested. I still have a bunch to add to it, but it’s beginning to come together: here. I used some clipart from this wonderful clipart collection that I bought so many years ago, it’s great how beneficial this $20 purchase was.

I looked in downtown Schwenksville a little this week for the possibility that there might be some place hiring that I would be willing to work for. No go. This town is so dead. According to Yahoo! Yellow pages there even used to be more shops in town, but they’re gone now. No doubt because of the growth of this area, there’s now a Wal-Mart and a few Super Markets within reasonable distance, so local places don’t have much of a chance. On the bright side I might have more contract work to do in the near future, yay! Having beer money again would be wonderful!

Back when I was a senior in High School I had an old Ti-82 graphing calculator. A friend of mine online showed me how to write basic programs for it and I had all sorts of fun with it. So while sitting in IRC the other day, and an acquaintance mentioned that he had a graphing calculator emulator. The emulator is called Virtual Ti, and unfortunately it’s a Windows program and requires calculator ROMs (which you can either download illegally if you don’t actually have the calculator. or get by hooking your calculator up to your computer). I had a ROM, perhaps this program runs in wine? Oh yes it does! Screenshot. This is pretty neat. I then started poking around ticalc.org a bit more, and found that it’s a pretty cool site. I’m not sure what sort of practical application having a graphing calculator emulator on a much more powerful computer is, but it was good for nostalgia %) And running a calculator emulator within an emulator gets all sorts of geek points.

Last night we finally saw Caligula (1979). I’ve heard various things about this film (and our choice of a name for our cat), including:

“Uh, that film is quite pornographic.”

“I think that Caligula film was connected to Penthouse magazine.”

“omfg – you’re going to watch Caligula! thats a crazy movie”

“You named your cat after a porn movie?”

So I guess I should have known what I was getting myself into. It seems more people than I suspected have seen this movie, it made all sorts of waves when it was first released. I opened up the netflix envelope, pulled out the dvd, “Penthouse Video” *groan*. Ok, so porn doesn’t bother me, but for the most part it bores me. But I thought that maybe with Caligula the porn scenes would at least have something to do with the plot. Boy was I surprised. Many parts did have to do with the plot, but there was still quite a bit that didn’t. From what I’ve read now, it seems that the original intention of the film would have been something more like my idea, but in the editing room Bob Guccione put in more porn, and some scenes and closeups that had nothing to do with the plot. And then there were some scenes which were just gruesome, gah. I probably would have enjoyed and respected it more if there was less unnecessary porn. I guess there is a rated R version too, which might conform to my expectations more.

Crazy movies.

Last night I attempted to make “potato stuffing.” Vehicle00 had suggested it a few days before, and we needed something to eat with our corn on the cob, so I figured I’d give it a shot. Mashed potatoes + toasted bread cut into cubes + diced onion + diced celery, oven heated to 400F and cooked for an hour (40 minutes covered, 20 minutes uncovered). It sure smelled good after those first 40 minutes %D I’d say it was a success, even if it was a bit dry, maybe if I mixed some chicken broth in with it before baking, or created some sort of gravy. I’ll probably eat some of the leftovers for lunch, leftovers! How grown up of me to have leftovers.

*wanders off*

Cargo Kitty and Caligula seem to have sorted out their differences as the weekend progressed. They still scared each other from time to time, but they never hurt each other and seemed to even be calm while in the same room. At one point they were both sitting on the couch with me (Caligula glaring at me with his green eyes while I patted Cargo). Neither of the cats stopped eating, or had any troubles sharing a litter box. This makes me very hopeful if we someday decide to get another pet, Caligula seems able to adjust well. He’s such a perfect little kitty, I’m so happy we have him! Oh and I put more pictures in the gallery of Caligula and Cargo, here.

Michael got half the roof patched this weekend. It rained all day Sunday without any more noticable leakage on that side, and we’re waiting for the forecasted heavy thunderstorms later this week to see if the patching job works, I’m hopeful! While Michael was on the roof fixing things, I was on the porch getting tools and holding the ladder when he needed me to.. and while I wasn’t busy doing that I had my nose in the paperback copy of Angels & Demons that let me borrow. I could hardly put that book down! It was exciting and interesting and I finished it in 2 days. On sunday I started reading The Da Vinci Code, I’m halfway through it.

Today I spent most of the morning cleaning, Cargo kitty sheds so much more than Caligula does! I made some egg salad for lunch, it’s been a while since I had egg salad… I think I added too much mustard to it. It was tastey anyway. While at the grocery store this weekend we picked up ingredients to make lasagne, so I’ll probably make some of that this week. Oh, and we got some baking pans! Somehow we didn’t own any, which decreased the amount of things I could make, now I have all sorts of baked meals I can consider %)

*wanders off*

Michael brought Cargo Kitty home from work yesterday. I’ve only introduced cats to each other a few times in my life, and it was always with very quick, positive results. When I was young our cats Garfield (neutered, about 1 year old) and Night (a young unneutered kitten) were buddies after a single evening together, without *too* much growling and hissing.

I probably should have expected a worse time with two young male neutered cats (Cargo is 1.5 years old, Caligula is 7 months), especially since the younger of the two is the one whose house this is.

Cargo was let into the house for a couple minutes to sniff around, then Caligula and I came downstairs. Then they saw each other! I had never seen Caligula so fluffed up in my life, then he made very weird “wop wop wop” meow noises that were just so funny. Eventually Cargo ran off and hid in a window sill, but when we approached him he hissed at US. Caligula was calmed down a bit and was never agressive toward us like Cargo was being. The rest of the evening was spent with them hiding from each other, then Cargo coming down and Caligula chasing him around the house. They still hadn’t stopped growling and hissing at each other when I wanted to go to sleep last night, so I brought Caligula in our bedroom to sleep with us.

And now it’s another day and they’re still being brats. I did a quick search online and most of what I’ve read stresses “Take your time” … which isn’t really possible when Cargo just stays for a weekend! All we can really do is wait, give them both lots of attention, and see how they do. I’m hopeful that even if they don’t end up getting along this weekend, at least they won’t hurt each other. And we don’t have anywhere to go this weekend, so it’s not going to be difficult to keep an eye on them.

Silly kitties!

*wanders off*

It’s been very stormy this week. On Tuesday we got a thunderstorm so bad that there was a river in my yard. Last night we had nice size hail and decided to cancel going to Delaware to hang out with John because it was just too nasty out.

Last night we also learned that our roof leaks.

In five places.

Fuck.

It could be much worse, we’re hopeful that some sealent we picked up last night will do the trick, as the shingles are pretty new (the outside of the roof was redone in 2000, obviously badly). But we really didn’t need this. It’s like each time I’m getting close to being comfortable with everything fixed and working nicely something new goes wrong! It can be very frustrating and depressing.

Today I let it get to me, I think I just needed a good long cry, then a meditation session. It’s healthy just letting all stress out with a few dozen tears from time to time, and these sorts of intense depressed moods always have me coming out feeling much better and determined to fix things in my life that I DO have control over.

This past winter was a bit depressing (for a variety of reasons), and I picked up a whole host of bad habits. I eating chocolate and a lot of snuggling in blankets and reading when I got depressed. This is bad! I put on 6 pounds this past winter, and I’m not happy about it. I haven’t fully recovered from this slip into bad depressive habits, I need to keep working toward being a healthy self again. I need to start exercising more, I need to eat better, I need to get more into gardening. And I definately need to use my time more wisely, perhaps have plans for each day and what I want to acomplish, that way I have a goal to work towards.

I’m seriously thinking about getting a part time job, any job. The company I do contract work for hasn’t called me in over a month, so although Michael assures me he’s very happy with me playing “housewife” for now, I always feel guilty when I say we can’t afford something. Since I don’t have a car and there isn’t public transportation I’ll need to find some place in town to work. On monday I’ll take a walk into town and fill out some applications.

Bleh. I’m sure I’ll feel better tomorrow, I don’t need any sympathy, just some time to look at what I’m doing with my life and reflect.

*wanders off*

I got up at 5:30 this morning, and stumbled into a conversation about Aphex Twin, specifically the Richard D. James album, which took an interesting turn.

< Bibliomaniac> I am now very interested in hearing it. I really enjoy the Ambient Works CDs. pleia2, you heard these albums before?
<+pleia2> Bibliomaniac: yeah, we have two copies of volume 2, heh
<+pleia2> just my boyfriend has volume one though
<+pleia2> he’s really really into ambient
< Bibliomaniac> Oh sweet! I am really really into ambient. What other artists does he listen to?
<+pleia2> Bibliomaniac: a lot of Steve Roach, Robert Rich
< Bibliomaniac> I am engrossed with ambient. WHOA!
< Bibliomaniac> YOu serious? I have most all of Roach’s and Rich’s albums.
<+pleia2> %o!
< Bibliomaniac> Yeah, Vidna Obmana, too.
<+pleia2> yeah!

Wow neat. I think this is the first time I’ve randomly run into an ambient fan, and it was in the #GameMusic channel that I don’t talk in much in. So I spent a while talking to him, and to my surprise I think I was actually able to hold my own in the conversation. I did mention to him that I hadn’t been learning about ambient music for too long, and several times said “…of course my boyfriend would know more…” but I surprised myself with my competence. See, I shouldn’t downplay my knowledge so much, I know more than I think I know. So while we were talking I decided to make up a list of all Michael’s CDs. Then, list in hand, we decided to share some music. He sent a few Jonn Serrie albums, and was nice enough to rip them in ogg! Yay I love Jonn Serrie! Also sent some Liquid Mind, which I’ll have to check out after listening through this Serrie.

Then since I had made a list of Michael’s CDs I decided to make a list of my own too. That’s when I realized that I have a lot of crap. So I removed a bunch of crap from my collection that I don’t listen to anymore (I should sell it or give it away), and kept some crap in because I sometimes might be in the mood for it, and ended up with my list.

I might put together some sort of database for this CD stuff. I looked around a bit and the only linux app I could find that might reasonably do this was KmusicdB, which requires lots of KDE libs, and uses postgreSQL. That would be too much of a pain I think, especially since I’d want Michael to be able to use it too. Maybe on a local box running apache I can write my own with mysql and php, at least that would be easy to put on a website someday if I felt so inclined.

There was a little bit of touchup painting to do in the spare bedroom, so I spent some time today and did that. It’s looking nice, except for behind the radiator. The wrench broke while Michael was trying to unscrew it. Yeah, wrench broke, stupid thing. So we’ll need to get a nicer new wrench and move the radiator when we have a chance. The room looks good though, the bright blue was just too much, white is good!

It’s been raining here all day long. I almost had forgotten that it rains during the day too, since all season I’ve gotten used to “hot and sunny during the day, thunderstorm in evening” cycle. It’s nice to have a rainy day sometimes, and somewhat amusing, since now we have a moat:

I think I’ll make some Boca Burgers for dinner. Yum.

*wanders off*

Bill One: from the hospital

EMER RM WO/DOC LEV 3 – 502.00
TRAY/SET-SUTURE – 114.50
SUTURES – 32.50
NEOMYCIN/POLYMYX/BACITR – 1.00

Bill Two: from the ER doctor

DR. HARRIS / ER EXAM-2 – 79.00
DR. HARRIS / WOUND REPAIR – 233.00

Bill Three: from local physician

SUTURE REMOVAL – 55.00

Grand Total For 7 stitches: $1017

Isn’t this a bit excessive?

I went outside yesterday afternoon to check the mail and when I was coming in I was distracted by my veggie garden. It had veggies growing in it!

Green beans!

So I decided to pick some.

I was pretty surprised with how well they had grown, considering that all I had really done to nuture the beans was plant the seeds and do a little weeding. The cucumbers are growing too, not large enough to pick yet, but I figure in about a week ago they’ll be ready.

Now that we had lots of fresh beans, we decided that we should have a yummie fresh veggie dinner. Then called and suggested we do a bit of a pot luck dinner. So we invited them over for an evening dinner.

Since we had most of the afternoon to kill we decided that it’d be good to start painting the spare bedroom. We were able to get the first coat on in a little over an hour. We’ll probably finish that up today, then I can spend Monday doing final touches. We’re pretty sure now that we want to turn that room into a “media” room, with the TV in there, a computer that will be able to play movies from our network on our TV, maybe pick up a couple loveseats.

So we finished up painting, got cleaned up and started making our part of the dinner. Michael headed out to Limerick to the Dutch Oven Bakery, which has amazingly yummie baked foods. Everything came together nicely around 6pm for them to arrive. They brought some super yummie turkey enchiladas (which I definately need to get the recipe for). We had a nice evening with them, ended up driving out to Sellersville in N-Tropy’s new car (which has an mp3 player!) to see a house they are putting a bid on, it’s beautiful! Hopefully they’ll be able to buy it %)

After talking with N-Tropy, I once again had my interest sparked by NetFlix. We don’t watch a whole lot of TV (and don’t have cable), but many nights it’d just be nice to relax and watch a movie. Blockbuster is so expensive, renting is a pain (always busy), bringing movies back is a pain. I think $22/month might actually be quite reasonable for NetFlix.

In other news, the documentation that I wrote up for Bitlbee was accepted, yay! It’s now in their -devel version (as of 20040710), and I get to be in a CREDITS file. Please excuse my geeky excitement %) It’s pretty neat to be involved in a project like this, even if my contribution is only the documentation sort, I really should get more involved in other projects. This week I’m definately going to emmerse myself in all things XML.

*wanders off*