Gooooooood morning fine people! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.
I’m Mindmouth, your hostess this morning here at the Froggy Bottom Cafe slash Welcome Wagon. If you’re new here at the Boo, come on in and say hello! If you’re not new, well, you know what to do.
Let’s start the morning with a song, shall we?
Weeeeelllllll……..
Tuesday morning, coffee’s on
What better way to start the day
Than with a lovely song?
Birds are singing, sun is bright
Half of us were drunk last night
Fireworks and barbecue
But now it’s back to work…. PEE-EWWWW!
What’s on your mind this morning, friends and neighbors?
*Small Editorial Note:*
Folks, at the request of the FBCers, instead of recommending our FBC diary, add it to your Hotlist, please! I’m thinking we want to keep that slot in the Recommended Diaries section available for important stories for the Boomen and Women. Thank you!
Remember when I mentioned my friend having her baby last week?
Logan arrived Friday morning at 1:16 AM, weighing in at 6 lbs., 6 ozs., and he was 19 3/4 inches long. Much smaller than we thought, but gorgeous, healthy, and perfect! Mom had to wind up having a C-section – labor just wouldn’t progress – but she’s doing terrific and she and Logan will be going home today!
To new life!
I now feel compelled to republish my new (step)grandson, born on Saturday. Shameless baby-posting.
I beg your forgiveness, Diane. It seems I have forgotten the rule about posting a pic as a comment. Shame on me.
AWWWW!
I adore shameless baby posting!
He is one cute little fella!
Just a guess: but can you tell Shirl got a new mouse today? 🙂
Just a minor adjustment in calibration needed. . . .still learning how to driver her. . .
Many Mousie apologies to one and all who thought they had somehow fallen off their pedestals. . .
Hand eye coordination is shot, can no longer eat, drink and drive a new mouse at the same time.
I’ll be off in the corner shoveling mouse turds. . .
My folks are getting to the point where they need help taking care of their place- and I’m having trouble getting siblings to give up one day every 6 months to come and help with things they can’t do- like paint the trim and cut limbs. They have 5 acres and a huge house, so I can’t do it all alone.
I’d love some experience from those who have been there/done that.
The best thing I did for my mother was to pay for a cleaning service to come in every two weeks. The effort of keeping her house up was exhausting her and taking her energy for doing anything else. And if you give advance notice (and money) to the cleaning service, they will undertake extra jobs as well (like cleaning the fridge or washing windows).
Do you parents live out in the country and if they do, is there a local newspaper? These papers are great source for finding people who can do all sort of maintenance and repair work.
Another resource is the local high school. When we built our house we needed an extra pair of hands and called the voc-ed department to get recommendations for good students. The kid they suggested was fantastic.
Those are really good suggestions.
I would add that it’s nice to set up a phone call or email at a specific time, so that if it doesn’t come you know that something is wrong. My mother lives in a high-rise building for the elderly. Everyone in her hallway checks to see that the newspapers are all picked up by a certain time, and, if not, they check to see that the occupants of that apartment are okay.
would come down once or twice a month to do maintenance tasks on both mom’s houses — my sister’s mom-in-law lived right across the street from my mom. (You’ve heard of marrying “the boy next door”…well, my sister married the boy across the street, and I married the boy down the street! 🙂 ) They did it for two reasons: my mom helped them get a loan for a house, and they loved to do home improvement type stuff and it’s more fun to do stuff when someone else is paying for it. 😉
We all took care of Mom in our own way: my oldest sister by working on the house, my second sister by taking Mom gambling before she became too sick, my brother checked out the car every so often, and me…well, I just tried to not be too much of a disappointment…
Another resource might be a local church, especially an Episcopal or UCC church; many of them look for community projects, or know people who are looking for odd jobs to keep them going in a down economy. (My dad-in-law hired a guy from church to help him organize his files — as the person who’s going to have to go through those files if anything happens to him, all I can say is “Hallelujah!”) Your parents don’t even have to be members of the church, most likely…
Good morning, froglets! It’s already hot and muggy here in NC.
What’s on my mind today is the news that my nephew, Brady, shown here with his mom, my sister, has started taking heart medication. This is troubling news as it announces that his Muscular Dystrophy marches on. He recently survived a scary bout with a cold and chest congestion that had him on a breathing machine.
Whenever I start to feel sorry for myself about my kids growing up and leaving me, I think of my sister and how she would give the world just to have her son grow up.
What a lovely picture – thank you for sharing that with us this morning. I’ll keep your nephew and your sister in my prayers, Nature.
It’s a great picture and I’m sure your sister must love it. I know how hard it is to be the one watching the suffering — my sister’s daughter has Down’s and had serious heart problems which required several surgeries. I hated no being able to do something to solve the problem. I gave her and Laura all the comfort I could but it never felt like enough.
In our case, there was a happy ending — although the doctors weren’t sure if her heart would be strong enough for her to survive to adulthood, she just had her 23rd birthday last week.
I worked for many years in a group home for mentally retarded adult men. I absolutely loved them and they remain like my closest family even today and 600 miles away. They have an amazing outlook on life and a tenacity and a generosity of spirit that makes mine pale in comparison. I wish the best for your niece and you have every reason to expect her to have a happy life. Oh, and my name is Laura, too. 🙂
My sister has, bless her tenacious heart, always made sure that Laura’s life was everything it could be. Once the heart problems were fixed, things really improved and she was able to take on all kinds of activites. In fact, at the end of last year, Laura (aka Big L) got her black belt in karate.
And thanks for your nice thoughts in the midst of your own worrying.
Hi Laura – I’m so sorry to hear about your nephew. I will keep him and his family in my thoughts. Incidently, my brother is named Brady – it’s not a common name, and I rarely run across anyone else with it. Funny old thing.
Hey, I thought you’d be somewhere en route today. Aren’t you heading back to the midwest this week?
July 5, 6:34 a.m., Brown County, Indiana
This image is so far beyond my capabilities that my only explanation is that I was briefed inhabited by the ghost of Galen Rowell. I was trying to decide how long to do the live blogging and this picture is definitely the sign that it’s time to stop schlepping the camera on my morning walks.
That is breathtaking! Andi, your pictures are beautiful.
Breathtaking. Whenever I see the sunlight reaching down to Earth like that it makes me believe in God. Or else I’ve seen too many religious calendars.
good morning MM and others.
Last night we talked about whether the FBC diary should be recommended and thus get on the rec. list, the consensus was remind people to put this diary on their hot list, by clicking the plus sign at the top of the diary, and do not rec. it.
Mindmouth, could you write that up in a little blurb. and put it in the diary above.
Thanks for getting this diary up MM, and congrats. on the new baby of your friend.
Good morning Diane!
Okay, I added that in up top, about putting the FBC in the Hotlists of our members. I don’t know how to do that fancy Update thing, or I would have done that, instead. LOL!
And thank you!
Thanks MM for doing that so fast…
How is Texas this morning…We are having overcast skies again today…June gloom is now july gloom..
But it does burn off by noon usually and then it is hot and sunny, but our sea breeze keeps it a little cooler, than further inland.
It is SO hot it’s insane. It was 85 this morning at 8:30! I really wish we were going to get some of that Tropical Storm Cindy, because we need the rain desperately, but she’s going inland in Louisiana instead, dang it.
I really like this idea. The sight of our Cafes (sometimes two at a time) on the Rec List has occasionally made me wince. I’m also gratified to see a little “minus” sign next to the diary title after I’ve added it to my hotlist. Now we all have to remember to un-hotlist once a new Cafe has been opened, but that only affects individualized views of the site, not all users.
Hi brother, I was astounded to find out last night that some of our very own hosts of this cafe did not think to put the diary on their hot list. (In case you don’t know, just click the + sign at the beginning of any diary to remove you click the minus sign.)
I always use the hot list to keep track of any interesting diaries I am following and the FBC diaries and WW ones too.
At times in the last few weeks I had so many on there and just to take them off took a lot of refreshing time…So now I just remove them when a new one starts.
Ok I’m an idiot..I can’t find my hot list. Please help me.
You’re NOT an idiot. If you don’t know about them there is absolutely nothing to give you a clue.
Okay. . .go up to the top where the title of this diary is. See it? Now look immediately to its left. See the circle with the plus sign in it? That’s the Hot List symbol. Click on it. It will turn into a minus sign. Now go back to Home page and look right above Recommended Diaries.
See anything new?
Yay, you did it!
Thank you I did it
Morning everyone! I have minor sad news this morning, my mouse is on its last legs. . .I had to open its belly this morning and remove its inner roller and am working it (belly up) by manipulating the internal little roller bars. LOL. . .okay, do you think this is a sign that I am waaaaay too addicted to the computer, not to mention BMT and FBC? Maybe just a warning, eh? So I will be off to the local small town Radio Shack for a new mouse in a few minutes. . .but thought I better get some coffee going in my system before actually leaving my house. . .sort of a big deal, eh Diane?
MM great news about the friends baby. SN very sorry to hear that your nephew seems to be having more difficulties.
Good to see everyone this morning! I feel a bit hung over and I had nary a drop to drink. . .so. . .maybe it’s the short end of the sleep stick, again.
Catch y’all later.
about the eminent death of your mouse, post surgery…
Yes it is a big deal to leave the house after a certain age and according to certain dispositions; it requires thoughtful planning and preparation.
Please introduce your new mouse when you get it home..
Good morning Shirl BTW…<<<hugs>>>>>
Here’s my proof: It wasn’t until 3/4 of the way through your comment that I realized you were talking about a computer mouse…I was imagining some horrific medieval surgery taking place that involved a pet rodent. Yeesh, where’s my coffee?
Hi everyone!
Mice are very cheap to replace but I thought I’d share a story with you…
I own a very old mouse, as basic as you can get (with rollers and not wireless). It started to be less and less responsive, even after I took the ball out and cleaned the rollers. Finally I gave it up for dead.
HOWEVER… a computer friend of mine come to the house one day and I explained about the death of my mouse. He used to work in an internet cafe and within five minutes had it working just like brand new. What did he do?
He unscrewed the bottom and took it apart – an old roller mouse has about 8 or 9 parts total (including plastic gears). The “tail” or cord connects to a circuit chip, but everything else is either rubber or plastic and can be washed. The dirt he removed was the problem.. after drying the pieces with a hand towel, he re-assembled the mouse.
Saved me some money… the fact that you could manipulate the rollers tells me there’s nothing wrong with your mouse except it’s dirty. If you already bought a new one, clean the old one and keep it as a backup!
Pax
Yes that is sure true about the mouse and I thought everyone knew that, I bet shirl did..she is supposed to be a techi…Use a cue tip to clean the side rollers inside and I used to take out the ball, rub it with dish soap, rinse and then dry.
I had a wireless mouse and spilled a coke on it, it never recovered. My mouse now is non roller ball(optical) and I much prefer it to the roller ball type, nothing ever to clean..they are very cheap also, but not as cheap as the roller ball type..
BTW Soj can you tell me how to set up a donation account for a project…If so could you email me…
heheheheheheheheheheheheheheh.
OMG. . .Diane, ME???? a Techie????? Oh, too much laughter, way too much laughter. Nope I am not a techie, but I was married to one and she taught me lots and lots about computers and I have probably forgotten 3/4 of it and wouldn’t be able to figure out my notes even if I knew for sure where they are right now.
We could say that I am more knowledgeable/experienced than some and far, far from being a techie. The things I know, I know pretty well, but the former spouse has been gone 5 years now, so I haven’t gained a lot of expertise in the past 5 years. . .only if it is related to something I want to do. . .and 5 years in the computer world is like 100 in real life. I do okay for an old ding-bat.
The new mouse (yes, I know all about the cleaning and did so to save old bessie as a back up, had her forever as it is). . .Well new Mousie Monique is quite the flashy little gal. Optical as opposed to roller!!!!yeah, yeah, yeah!! And I think she is a professional gal, one of those of the oldest profession. Here scroll wheel is lit with a red light, no less!! This should be interesting, but she is like a shiny new convertable, sleek and fast. . .and for some reason my keyboard seems to be working better now that I have the new mouse. Yeah, I know. . .but it does.
Well you got the same mouse that I have with the red flashing lights and super cool…
So what is with the FBC today, no one on….Can’t they find it now that it is not on the rec. list….
Oh no, we are going down hill now..lol…
Apparently your new mouse is set on “3”. 🙂
Too funny…shirl’s new mouse does seem a might temperamental!
Golly, was it something we said? 🙂
I’m just dropping off the fresh hot Danish and croissants, can you smell them? Sorry I can’t stay–looks like a touching, sad, funny, sweet, inspiring, interesting, beautiful. . .in other words, normal. . .day at the FBC today.
Sorry I can’t stay longer!
See ya later agitators.
This is Deception Pass Bridge between Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands, in Puget Sound about 2 hours north of Seattle. The surrounding park is the most-visited in all the state of Washington. The hilltop at center incidentally is the back side of Goose Rock. A 20 minute wooded hill walk brings you to the opening that looks out over the central & south Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Olympic & Cascade mountains, and the San Juan Islands west to Vancouver Island, known to some of us as the Land of the Free.
The view above shows how Mom, who will visit next week from Florida, experiences our summer weather.
Meanwhile, lifelong locals experience 75F as something closer to:
Just a reminder that you can tell us about you here!
good morning everyone! i hope everyone is sooper today. i also hope those who aren’t doing as well as they wish will be doing better soon!!!
Hiya everyone! This will be quick, quick, quick, but I wanted to stop by and say hey. I am all done with work and am spending the week getting ready to drive from SoCal to IN (i’ve triptik’d a route that goes by the Grand Cyn, Zion and Bryce Cyn, so it should be fun).
So far today it’s all been good news: 1)I don’t have cancer (there was a minor scare, but everything’s fine) 2)I don’t need new brake pads (although if I ever want the brakes to stop squealing I will need to spend about $200, which – yeah right.) 3)The guy at the car place will replace my little cd player which died 2 months after installation even though I don’t have the receipt (thank you, jeebus – can you imagine driving from CA to IN without music???). Plus, I have plenty of time to spend with the people I love before decamping for the midwest. Very nice.
I hope you all are doing similarly well, and I will try to check in again sometime this week. Take care and stay cool!
Melanie
I am glad for all your good news and that you are about to embark on a journey into your future…
You will be checking in here, won’t you???We all wish you the best of luck..
Are you going to take some time to do hiking at the parks? If so, I can suggest some day hikes.
Also, if you have time, drive UT-12 from Bryce over to Capitol Reef NP. (From there you can take UT-24 up to I-70.)
Ooh! Suggest away – I don’t know how much time I will have, but I’d love to have some options in my pocket.
Grand Canyon (I’m assuming south rim)
Easy: walk along the rim.
Below the rim best bang for the buck: South Kaibab Trail to Cedar Ridge (3 mile round trip, trail is somewhat steep)
Below the rim easiest access: Bright Angel Trail to 1 1/2 mile rest house (3 mile round trip, trail is steep)
Zion
Easy: Gateway to the Narrows, walk as far as you want. This takes you into the start of the narrower part of the Virgin River Gorge.
Easy: Emerald Pools Trail (2 mile loop, very pretty, very crowded)
Easy: Weeping Rock Trail (at least 1/2 mile but it’s part of a longer trail so you can keep going as far as you want). Scenic with nice views as you climb.
Harder: Watchman Trail (3 miles round trip, steep in spots).
Bryce
Easy: walk along the rim
Below the rim best bang for the buck: Queens Garden – Navajo Loop Trail (about 5 miles loop. If just do the Navajo Loop Trail it’s 1.5 miles).
Capitol Reef
Easy: Grand Wash (walk as far as you want, 4 miles round trip)
Harder: Hickman Bridge Trail (2.0 miles round trip, some steep parts.)
Much harder but great views: Cohab Canyon (3 miles round trip, very steep)
These hikes are all highy scenic but they are also hot so you need a hat and lots of water.
We’ve done a lot of hiking (and driving) in this area. If you want to know more about the parks, hikes, the roads or whatever, feel free can ask here or email me.
before I go…I am soliciting advice on the type of laptop I should buy for school. I haven’t gotten word back from the department yet about what the recommend, but my new roommate was raving about her iBook and strongly suggested I get one (they’re having a thing right now where you get a free ipod, as well!). I’ve always been a pc person – does anyone here have experience learning to use a mac? If so, how did it go?
Thanks! I have to run, but please leave me some advice if you have a sec…
I must admit that the iBooks have several recommendable features. They have the solid metal exterior, good battery life, and a very compact power supply. However, similar features can be obtained on PC`s, particularly from Sony.
The main thing I would recommend is getting as light of a notebook as possible. Second to that would be screen quality – you want to find the brightest screen possible. If you check the technical stats for the monitor, they should have a brightness rating in Lumens. The brighter the screen, the easier it is to read in well-lit rooms. Last, look for the special Mobility types – they are just better designed than the P4/Celeron notebooks of the previous generation, especially as regards heat consumption.
Unless you are going to be using it for gaming or multimedia design, you can probably live with the least-powerful machine available, processor wise. Right now 528 megs of memory seems to be standard, and windows likes memory, so you might as well go ahead and get that.
As for warranties, I have heard of MANY people who have gotten a really good deal out of the several year replacement warranties. If you figure on carrying your notebook around and using it in non-office situations on a regular basis, go ahead and get a long warranty with the replacement option. It will probably break in one way or another, which means that you will get a new computer.
I have a Hewlitt-Packard that I like a lot. It has Windows XP and a BIG screen. I got it a couple of years ago at Costco for a good price. My son and a good friend both have iBooks. They like them a lot, but I think they’re slow compared to mine.
I switched over to all macs in January of this year; I love them! I first got a powerbook in November (tired of lugging my client-issued HUGE PC laptop across country!), but was nervous about making the jump. One thing: you really need at least 1 GB of Ram for it work at a decent pace. Definitely spend the money for that upgrade!
It turned out to be a silly fear. Buy a “Missing Manual” for OS X, and anything you can’t figure out easily, you can quickly look up; it didn’t take me long to get used to it at all.
I was looking at that iBook/iPod deal myself…looks like a good deal to me.
Apple is trying to keep the price as low as possible so they have minimum ram. it’s always been a complaint. your advice to upgrade the ram is good advice. our old rule was take what the machine comes with, and double it.
Ive been using Mac’s since 1990 on a daily basis and they are all I use both at home and at work (other than the servers). Here is what you’re up against. In 2006 (June of next year is target for MacMini) and 2007 Apple will be moving their OS to intel chips. Frankly, I will not buy another new macintosh for my personal use until they switch. After they switch, I will. Apple has just turned thumbs down on the power PC processor. If you buy Mac now you get a legacy chip. Thats the first caveat.
Once Jobs does switch over what happens is anyone’s guess. Think about it, Mac OS running on Intel? Will Jobs sell the OS for any Intel box? Or will he keep it booting from only machines from Apple? Would Dell license MacOS? The answer to questions like these are going to be very interesting. Wintel won the war of the office suite. But what comes next? What are these internet appliances?
The reason you should want a Mac is because of the elegant software (the hardware is not cheaper) and because you’re finally running Unix. Unix is where it’s at. Think Linux with an ipod interface. Keep in mind what makes an ipod so successful isn’t the hardware and it isn’t the cost, its the well designed software. Macs will never be cheaper. Jobs wants upgrade money from you on a yearly basis. The odds are you will pay. So, if you’re concerned about price, don’t go there. Think Ford vs Volvo. That’s what a Mac is, it’s a more expensive car that’s more pleasurable to drive. Ford will get you to your destination.
If you’re in a specific college, before you decide on platform, ask around at the book/computer store and see if lots of Macs are running. Also find out if the school has a license to distribute Microsoft Word for Mac and disk/virus/firewall utilities for Mac and how much they cost. My niece is at UT Austin now. Word Pro for Mac cost her 8 dollars. The Norton Utilties and the Firewall for Mac they give away. Big schools should have similar programs.
I purchased my niece’s powerbook for her and I support it. All her classes have online access but they’re all html based so her Mac works fine. She’s had no problem at all with cross-platfrom issues OTHER THAN one of her friends (a boy 🙁 has a digital camera which made jpegs that iphoto didn’t like. She had to call me for the workaround and since I use photoshop we had no problems. If she had been running wintel she never would have called me. She’s a convert. They ran an ipod deal just before sept semester last year too. I bet it’s sort of the same deal.
ibook is polycarbonate, the powerbook is aluminum. ibook is heavier and doesn’t come with bluetooth and ibook doesn’t have the sound-in port (does have microphone). both are wireless. wireless is where its at. the powerbook is more tuned for performance, bigger, faster drives, better wireless antennae etc etc but the ibooks are just fine. the only thing i really prefer about the powerbook is the keyboard. in a comparison sense for the cost of the 12 inch powerbook you can get a 14 inch ibook. both are really nice machines. i have the ibook, so i voted for bigger screen, but the powerbook is just way kewl.
so that enough of an opinion? heehee
renee <—-computer chick from h e double el
I know that Apple’s making the switch to Intel (I’ve got to stop calling it “Wintel” now!), but I’ve still GOT to get my 20-inch iMac this year, for productivity and domestic tranquility if nothing else. I figure that by the time they finish the switchover, I’ll be ready to upgrade to new computers anyway! 🙂
my intel switch comments on the post above is me trying to be up front with what’s happening with the mac, for someone who hasn’t made the jump yet. if you’re already a macuser it gets a little more subtle. there are advantages to having a motorola power PC and they have to do with older native system nine apps. right now OSX runs system nine as if it were a program in order to load system nine applications. from what i’ve been told on an intel macintosh those system nine apps will not run, ever. i discussed this with someone who keeps up with it so while that might be wrong, it probably isn’t. to a new user this wouldn’t be an issue at all but if you’re heavily invested in some of the older system nine apps a power PC will run those and you won’t have to give them up yet.
also the intel macs will be running mac emulation early on and all the good mac software will still be coded for power PC and G5s are VERY nice. There’s a blazing fast PowerPC chip emulator called Rosetta that Jobs will be using to smooth the transition of software to the new architecture. But you won’t need that, you’ll be running native. Rosetta is so fast it’s supposed to not be noticable but it will be a while before all the apps are coded native for intel.
being the next day, but I’m a definite Mac person. I actually find them easier than PCs in many ways; I’ve never had to do any sort of configuration stuff like in the old Windows days. When I upgraded, I basically turned on the computer, plugged in the Ethernet cable and was good to go (and a week later switching to wireless was a piece of cake!).
The newer iBooks are much lighter than the older ones; my daypack has a special padded area that the iBook fits perfectly in, and I’m able to drag it around with ease. The old iBook I pretty much had to use a wheeled bag so I wouldn’t kill my back.
Micro$oft Office is available for Mac as well as Windows, and there are those who believe that the Mac version is better right now (it was updated in 2004). And there’s a “student/teacher” version that’s pretty affordable and has just about everything the regular version does (it’s basically absent some of the business-oriented whistles and bells). Entourage is a good calendaring/email program; I actually prefer Entourage to Apple’s Mail or iCal.
I agree to go ahead and get as much RAM as possible for the computer; most of your current applications are RAM hogs!
I prefer the 14-inch screen over the 12-inch; the extra real estate makes a difference for me. If you’re going to be using it in a classroom situation (for taking notes), the 12-inch might be better for you (I’m remembering the postage-stamp sized desks of many lecture halls.)
Good luck!
Hello everyone. I’ve been following the FBC diaries closely the last few weeks, but haven’t joined in much. I love the humorous banter and all of the support, but haven’t figured out how to do that yet on the computer. Besides which, I lost out on the humor gene. I’ve always said that I’m really good at laughing, but not so much at making people laugh. So you can all just imagine me laughing at my computer as the banter goes on.
I have an idea for a regular diary, but wanted to check out if its been done before. I just got a new book of poems today and thought it would be fun to post a poem every now and then so that we can talk about it – and maybe share others. I am in no way a poetry expert – but there are a few contemporary poets that are really feeding my soul lately – like David Whyte, Mary Oliver, Marge Piercy and Anne Cameron. Anyway, has that been done here before? And what do people think about it? Love to hear from you.
Hi, yes poetry diaries are fine for this site, I did one myself, combining poetry and spirituality.. A lot of us here either write poetry or love it, or both and I’m sure it will be well received.
It is very hard to show humor in comments and I have prayed for emoticons to use here but none have been delivered yet. I often wonder how statements I make are taken as they are bereft of hand gestures, body language, facial expressions and tonal qualities I use normally to communicate. ‘Funny’, is the hardest thing to do with words..
Speaking for moi, I’d love that. Somebody. . .I feel bad now that I can’t recall who. . .did a poetry diary at dK and I really liked it. It wasn’t Pyrrho, was it? And speaking of Pyrrho, where’s he been lately?
Shirl’s giving 3’s with her new mouse and my elbow is a little sore so I’m abstaining from my usual 4 orgy. It’s a tough day for mojo at the FBC!
Has repented after I had along talk with her. . .she thought there was something humorous in her actions, I assured her some of us older Tribbers might have heart attacks at seeing a 3 in the FBC. . .
I think we have it under control now. . .
Lol!! Cocky little mouse!
I think Lorraine did an occasional poetry diary at dKos, but I haven’t seen one from her here.
Also, speaking of both poetry and humor, the poet who makes me laugh is Billy Collins, the former American Poet Laureate. I went to a reading he gave a year or so ago and his poetry was charming and wise when he read it aloud.
Here’s sample that’s not funny, exactly, but will give a feeling for his moments of surprise and wit. And,actually, I suspect that if we could hear him read it, we’d be laughing at little at the last line.
Walking Across the Atlantic
I wait for the holiday crowd to clear the beach
before stepping onto the first wave.
Soon I am walking across the Atlantic
thinking about Spain,
checking for whales, waterspouts,
I feel the water holding up my shifting weight,
Tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface.
But for now I try to imagine what
this must look like to the fish below,
the bottoms of my feet appearing, disappearing.
god i would love that!!!!! i used to read anything. i had really low standards. i can remember, as a young woman in high school, sitting at the table, feet up on it, reading a milk carton cause i’d read everything else. as the time passed i realized i needed to focus and i began to structure my reading.
now it’s so structured that, apart from the internet and news, my goal is to read nothing but poetry.
of course i’ll fall short. but yes, lets try.
As a friend to the children
commend me the Yak.
You will find it exactly the thing:
It will carry and fetch, you can ride on its back,
Or lead it about with a string.
The Tartar who dwells on the plains of Thibet
(A desolate region of snow)
Has for centuries made it a nursery pet,
And surely the Tartar should know!
Then tell your papa where the Yak can be got,
And if he is awfully rich
He will buy you the creature —
or else
he will not.
(I cannot be positive which.)
Hillaire Belloc
In fact, it is about 10:20 AM here in Japan. Late morning, but morning nonetheless. Of course, it is also Wednesday here. Last night we had a hellacious rain, and today it is nice and cool outside. I hope it will remain like this for a while, but I am not holding my breath. The default weather around here for July is hot and humid, interspersed with lots of rain.
I have been at work for a couple hours now. Most of the kids are off doing stuff. The third years (um, about 9th grade, I guess) left for their trip to Kyoto and Nara this morning, and most of the first years (um, 7th, grade) are out about town doing activities at various places of employment. I am really not sure what all they are doing – it is hard to get very detailed explanations from anyone, and my Japanese is not good enough to be able to read it from the handouts I get on a daily basis. At least one group is at a restaruant making the local speciality, soba noodles.
Must prepare for class. Later!
Good morning!
Do you have any pics of Japan, that you could share..
What is your living situation there? What do you think of Japan.
This job is far, FAR better than any of the others I was looking at in the States. After quitting grad school, I had temped for a little while, and then through that temping found a job in the accounting department of an organic grain wholesaler. It was an awful job, but was better than I was expecting to find.
The Japan gig pays somewhere close to $30,000 a year outright, but then they subsidize my housing by half and gave me a motorscooter to use. I work M-F, 8:30 to 4:30, and have 20 days of paid vacation IN ADDITION to school breaks. Most people don’t get that, though -most have to sit at the Board of Education during school breaks unless they take vacation days.
I am also on the Japanese national health plan, which has so far given me cheap and efficient (if brusque and only partially understood) care on the occasions I have needed it – nasty puncture wound, allergies, and odd stomach ailment. On each occasion, I walked in the door without an appointment, saw the doctor within 15 minutes, and was out the door with a prescription in under 20. My visits for the puncture wound (they asked me to come back for check-ups!) ran about $12 apiece, the allergies with meds were about $50 for the first visit, and about $20 for the followups. The stomach issue was about $15 dollars total, with some antibiotics and other stomach meds. A friend of mine ended up in the hospital for a week, and his total bill came out to under $1000. I can see how there might be problems if you have more serious problems that are hard to diagnose, given both the “need to know” nature of medical consultation here and the language difficultues, but for basic problems it is great.
I am on the JET program. If you are young, have a college degree, and are not on a career track, than I highly recommend it.
Oh, and I do have some pictures, but they are on my home machine. I will try and post them in the next edition.
I’ve a childhood friend who has taught English in S. Korea and Taiwan…the experience has always fascinated me…I hope you’ll share more…
ah good there you are.. im counting heads tonight. glad to see you’ve been about. hope you’re doing well.
Has anyone seen “Cake or Death” around? Seemed like she was really active there for a week or two and then I don’t think I’ve seen her for a couple of weeks. . .but then I am so dingy sometimes, I may just have missed her.
ha i just asked about you.. and here you are, 30 minutes before i signed on
cake’s last post was on june 24th and nothing after that. whats sort of significant is that on the 24th she made 26 comments.
and then total silence. i hope her dam keyboard didnt wear out. oh, occams razor urges us to assume that the simplest explanation for her absence (ded machine) is probably the most likely.
her email is
mamayvonne_5@hotmail.com
i remember seeing her comments frequently. but you know shirl? you thought, and then remembered, to ask where she was.
thats why you rule.
Yeah, Cake hosted the cafe the last day she posted. . .did we run her ragged? or run her off? Hope it is just something simple like cpu malfunction or better a well deserved vacation.
I’ll send an email and see if we get any answer. Just always makes me wonder, “Was it something I said?” a direct quote from Kansas after yesterday’s mouse misbehaviors. . .
I finally manged to get to bed and asleep before 4:30am last night, so I missed your good company in the cafe. I’ll be good to go for another week now.
Well, the email bounced because of full mail box, so it looks like you might be right about computer crash.
If anyone hears from her or has a different email than the hotmail address I hope they will let us know.
I tired, any way.
k im here. anyone else? gee i love my late night all alone sweeping sessions here at frog bottom. now where is shirl and zander? anyone seem those ladies about?
Since we do not have out latest FBC diary up yet, I will post on here.
About cake or death I think she said she was going to be busy with a project…
How is everyone doing today…Here (socal) it is overcast, 62 degrees at 8 in the morning.
I am doing fine after some good sleep. Drinking coffe, helped myself. . .
It is supposed to be Hot (for us) here today into the 90’s, but the house is cool with my ceiling fans and humidifier going. I really don’t care for refrigerated air conditioning, so this seems to work fine for me. And In the dry air of the Western deserts using the humidifier really cools things down.
Glad someone remembers something about Cake. She just sort of bounced into my head yesterday and I realized that we haven’t seen her for a couple of weeks.
Who is running the Cafe today? Need any help?
Abbott has the Humpday Cafe open here.
Buenos dias!
Morning Manny,
Thanks for directing me to the right door. . .now I’ve had some coffee I think I can find my way around. LOL
How are you doing? I’ve seen you here and there at the Frog Pond, but I have been in a bit of a fog for a few days and haven’t said Hi or told you how darn cute you are for a while.
So Hi, and you are darn cute!
Hugs
Shirl
doing okay, I disconnected from the computer this past weekend (for the most part). I hear you regarding the fog, it’s been the same for me. Work has been crazy so I have had to focus on that rather than do the posting/commenting that I would like. That darn Real Life. 😛