Friday, April 28, 2006

Spring cleaning

Dragon Mood? -- dusty with blog dust

Well, for all you calypsoDragon13 visitors ... can you tell I've done a bit of spring cleaning?

Yep, I redid my "internal style sheets" -- heh-heh-heh, check out my new lingo! That's from all my study at w3schools. I'm gonna be ambitious and see if I can create a link with a blank target in order to open up an image in a NEW window .....

thumbnail   Click on the thumbnail and hold onto your seat!

Checking out SketchUp!

Dragon Mood? -- dimensionally excited!

Google News had a little tidbit about Google acquiring a 3D modeling software called SketchUp and -- get this -- offering its beta-version for free.

As a longtime 3D modeler, I snapped it up, er down -- I downloaded it right away from here.

I just installed it and haven't had time to play with it yet. But, I will! Yessiree, Bob or Kip or Sketch.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Happy 28th to my baby, Joshie!

Dragon Mood? -- sweet memories

Yes, my baby turns 28 today. I am now officially OLD.

But, I just wanted to jot down a couple of things as I remember 28 years ago.

First of all, Josh was born on a Thursday just like today. Which brings to mind the old nursery rhyme (which, of course, I googled, found, cut and paste here):
Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child born on the Sabbath Day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.
So, as a Thursday child, Josh has already traversed a lot of distance (in my humble opinion); perhaps he has more life-terrain to cover? Only time will tell.

I called Josh this morning and sang Happy Birthday to him. He told me that Aaron is coming up to Brewery City on Saturday and they're going to hang out. I presume that Caroline is joining them; eh, is this true?

Which brings me to another memory I have of Joshua's toddlerhood. He must have been close to four; Aaron would have been two. Aaron was still learning to talk. When he didn't have his index finger in his mouth. [Such a worried child! It's no wonder he (and I) battle our Eeyore-syndrome(!) We've talked and laughed about our taking turns being the extended-family Eeyore. I digress. Back to the story.]

Anyway, I was remembering how Aaron said "Joshie." It was with a short o-sound, not a long-o (that didn't happen until college when an Idaho gal gave Josh a whole new name). It was all "z's," soft and French-sounding: zshozshie. Make a "Shh" sound and put some "Z" into it, like "Zzh." Now, pronounce the "J" (Josh) and the "sh" (Josh) sounds pretty much the same ... and you've got two-year old Aaron's pronounciation of Joshie. So cute, so sweet, very "two-like." Sweet, sweet memories. Aaron's gonna hate me for this.

And another Joshua birthday memory (this one isn't new to him): I finagled the beginning of my labor for this about-to-be Zshozshie. Yep, I sweet-talked my then-husband into a little early-morning delight (I somehow want to say that it was AFTER eating some breakfast, but who can remember that little detail?). I was on top ... of course. And ... voila, a little percussive-time later (where in heaven's name was Caroline?), I started having regular and rhythmic contractions. All childbirth labor should start so erotically with early-morning sunlight streaming in!

Greg was, I suspect, equally surprised and proud of what he had wrought. It was about 8 in the morning. We called Aunt Ruth to come over and stay with unsuspecting, just-about-to-be-usurped two-year old Caroline.

The rest is history, as the saying goes. Save it for the next birthday, Mary. Tell the story again, Mom.

Happy Birthday, Joshua Elliott. I love you! I'm so proud to have you as my son.

Blogger *sob* REJECTS my post from Writely!

Dragon Mood? -- flustrated

Two different times now, I've tried to blog from Writely.

For some reason, Blogger won't 'accept' the blog posting. It gives me an error message that says:

Sorry! Your blog site returned this error:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Okay, Blogger! What's the deal with this? Huh?

(And now, I'm gonna have to post this *sigh* the old-fashioned way!)

Unstoppable!

Dragon Mood? -- slightly muddled

While I'm looking for a job, reviewing job search agents, recasting my resume for the umpteenth time ... I'm also learning.

Currently, I'm going through the simple, easy-to-understand tutorials at w3schools, teaching myself about HTML and now XHTML (thanks for the boot in the ass, Lina!). I'm learning about anchor tags, href and target attributes; revisited unordered and ordered lists (ah, the ubiquitous <ul>!), designating Cascading Style Sheets for formatting, head tags such as <link> and <meta> ... and now I'm onto XHTML!

Unstoppable, you say? ... bring on the world!

Giving thanks for ...

Dragon Mood? -- clean, glossy dragon scales

... hot showers.

I took a long, hot shower this morning and --*ping*--  I realized how thankful I am for HOT SHOWERS!   I may have been put in mind of this after reading about dooce's and blurbomat's terrors with sewer lines and the (nasty) like.

Here at the pied-a-terre, we have your run-of-the-mill showerhead and actually slightly-below-average water pressure, but the water was just hot enough and it kept coming ... so I was thankful.  Very thankful.

Hot showers, indoor plumbing, whew!   What a blessing!

THANK YOU to plumbers who installed it, sewer lines that work and God in heaven for all these indoor plumbing blessings!


Tuesday, April 25, 2006

dumpster-diving

S and I took a late-night walk last night -- the night before trash gets picked up in our neighborhood.

Okay, I must confess we didn't ACTUALLY dive into a dumpster. I put that in the title just to GRAB YOUR ATTENTION!

But, as we walked down a quiet, tree-lined residential street, S stops at the curb, picks up a stool and says, "This looks like the one I bought at the antique store!" Sure enough, it's a spittin' image, if not a twin of an antique piano stool with the claw feet clutching glass balls. Perfect condition! No kidding!

She took the dog's leash and I hefted the piano stool back home the three blocks or so. It was a good cardiac workout. My heartrate was definitely elevated by the time we got home.

We immediately took the stool into the garage, flipped on the light and examined our dumpster treasure. Even under closer examination, it looks like it's in perfect shape. No cracks, no breaks, nothing. It had two upholstered pads which we tossed immediately -- we may be dumpster-divers, but we do have our standards!

The stool is so heavy we know that it has some kind of steel shaft for a rotating/elevating mechanism. But that appears to be frozen; we'll have to work on getting it freed up.

Unexpected treasures at midnight! What could be more delightful to a couple of wenchy pirates, huh??

Monday, April 24, 2006

about Mamacita

Dragon Mood? -- nodding her dragonish head

Sometime back, Lina started referring to me as Mamacita. I'm sorry to say, I don't remember when. I truly don't. And then Yosh picked it up, occasionally using the same nickname.

I like it. I think it's cute and affectionate and ... it feels like me.

Now, I find out there's at least one other woman who answers to Mamacita! Her name is Joan Conde and she has a website, Mamacita Online, which I stumbled-and-clicked upon, through paid advertising at dooce. Her tagline is "Get Your Mamacita On!" ... which I must say, I like. I do. I LIKE IT! I especially can appreciate the Hindu goddess image with the eight arms juggling all the numerous things that we uber-Mamacitas do in this world.

Let's hear it for Mamacitas!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Checking in with the Swiss-est

Dragon Mood? -- stargazing

I haven't posted for a while ... nine days! Wow, is time flying or just speeding up -- for me?

It's Thursday and I wanted to check my long-term forecast at Astrodienst. These folks, located in Switzerland I believe, are the bomb! Here's what it had to say:

Pluto trine Pluto: Up to you

Beginning of March 2004 until end of September 2006: This is a period of stability, in which very deep and perseverant energies lend themselves to you. Whether you make use of them or not is completely up to you. However, if you do decide to use them, there will be potential for inner growth. From this position you can gain deep insights into the functioning of your psyche which might have shocked you at other times.

You get more interested into the deep questions about change and metamorphosis, death, birth and regeneration. You will decline any explanation that doesn't truly touch the heart of the matter. However, you could show this very attitude also towards less profound issues.

Saturn square Moon: A time of readjustment

Beginning of September 2005 until mid June 2006: This period can be quite a difficult time for your personal and domestic life. On the psychological level you may feel lonely and isolated from others. You may feel depressed and undeserving of love. Sometimes remembered past actions make you feel guilty that you have not lived up to your own expectations.

Externally this influence can create difficulties in personal relationships, especially with women, because your emotional communication seems to be cut off. Your job may make demands that conflict with your domestic responsibilities, so that you are forced to neglect one or the other. Your parents may also be a source of concern at this time.

The conflict at this time is between the structure of your ego, your sense of individuality and uniqueness and your need for connections and roots. Somehow it is difficult to be yourself and do what you must, to maintain your relationships and get much-needed emotional support and reinforcement from your loved ones.

These elements of your life are not truly in conflict, for they are complementary principles that need to be properly balanced with each other. The problem is that one element has got out of control at the expense of the other, so a time of readjustment is at hand. This situation is the underlying cause of the loneliness and depression that often accompany this influence.

You may have to make important changes in your life priorities. You may have to deemphasize your work in favor of your emotional and personal life, or you may have to break off a relationship that has interfered unnecessarily with your work. In either case, you must restore the balance between these two aspects of your life so that your life will run smoothly again.

Jupiter opposition Jupiter: A little care and restraint

Mid December 2005 until end of August 2006: Under this influence you are likely to feel quite good, with enough confidence to handle just about anything. It is a period in your life when you feel optimistic and as though you can do whatever you want. However, you may be somewhat overconfident, so be careful not to take on more than you can handle.

At this point, several time-consuming projects may be coming to a head at once. This could be either quite advantageous or quite difficult, depending upon how well you have estimated your capacities in the past. What is happening now may be more than you can deal with, so you may have to cut back a bit.

This can also be a time of restlessness, for you feel that your everyday world is simply not "big" enough or does not provide enough experience for you. If you feel this way, you need to enlarge your scope of activity somewhat, but again be careful not to overreach.

You may have given others the impression that you are overambitious or that you want too much (in their terms, at least), and they may try to prevent you from getting any further. If this happens, all you can do is confront them directly and try to reassure them that you are not after their position (unless, of course, you are). Because of this possibility, you must be somewhat compromising.

However, none of this is necessary. With a little care and restraint, you can convert this into an excellent time that will produce considerable good, especially in financial matters. This influence can make you either extremely extravagant or extremely successful in such matters, depending upon your natural bent.

Jupiter square Mars: Insight and skill

Mid January 2006 until end of September 2006: This influence gives you a great deal of confidence and makes you feel very self-assertive. Usually this is all right, but some people will express this energy by becoming arrogant and domineering. Also be wary of overconfidence, resulting in attempts to do things that are simply beyond you. In any physical activity you should be very careful not to take foolish risks that could lead to an accident.

Intemperance in almost any activity could completely undo the basically positive nature of this influence. Avoid exaggeration and try to maintain some sense of proportion. If you can do all of this, you will be able to get more work done than usual, and you will do it well. You will be able to accomplish things that you are usually afraid to tackle because you feel inadequate, and you can take the initiative when you would otherwise wait for others to take the lead.

With care and planning and adequate restraint, this influence is a general sign of fortunately timed action that takes advantage of the proper moment and makes the most of it. And this is not luck on your part, but insight and skill. All of this requires preparation, however, because impulsive actions at this time are not likely to be very effective.

It may be particularly important to placate persons in authority over you. If you act precipitately, they may become alarmed and think of you as a threat, whether or not you intend to be. Of course, if you do consciously intend to be a threat, this influence could be a help, assuming again that you have planned carefully. But if you are not conscious of your intentions, you may experience opposition from your superiors without ever quite understanding why.

Jupiter trine Uranus: Split-second action

End of January 2006 until beginning of October 2006: This influence gives you a strong need to express yourself by doing something that is different from your normal routine. You need to experience a new kind of freedom in your life and to discover dimensions of living that you have not known before. This may take the form of a search for inner truth on the metaphysical or philosophical level, or it may take the more external form of a new activity in your life.

You are much more receptive to new ideas during this time, and you should be a bit careful about getting into something solely because it is a novelty. However, for the most part this desire for the new is constructive and will probably be quite good for you. This is an influence that prevents you in a positive way from getting into a rut.

Sometimes this influence can denote a sudden opportunity or a piece of good luck that seems to come completely out of the blue and take you by surprise. Often it is a sudden change or an event that gives you a new chance in some way. It could be a sudden windfall or promotion or even a sudden chance encounter that works out to your benefit. If such an event occurs, take advantage of it. This is one of the few times when you shouldn't stop to ponder carefully before acting. Such a decision often requires split- second action.

This is also one of the few influences that can be very lucky in gambling. But remember that it will have this effect only if you are reasonably fortunate in such matters anyway. If you are usually unlucky at gambling, this influence will probably not affect you positively.

This influence also enables you to grasp new ideas quickly. You can learn subjects faster now than at other times, and you see very quickly the patterns in anything. On occasion this influence can signify a fortunate discovery or invention.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

the birthday girl

So, today my first baby is TURNING 30. Actually, in about an hour, she will OFFICIALLY be THIRTY!

Oh, my gosh! How old does that make ME?

Sheesh!!!

The easy answer to that is thirty years older. Thirty years older than the moment, the day, the year that I became a mother! Another reason to say, "Oh, my gosh!" It feels like a lifetime ago, a century ago, even possibly a millenium ago!! (laughing to myself) It feels like a damn, damn long time ago!

Lina is a smart, caring, accomplished lovely young woman. She is a great person. If she weren't my daughter, I would want her as a best friend. She is just that special! I am so, SO, SO PROUD to have her as my daughter as well as feeling oh-so-blessed to have her in my life. What a blessing indeed she is to me!

But indulge me while I continue to focus on me and my perceptions of the passage of time. There's nothing quite like having a child turn thirty to make this parent sit up and take notice. Hey, I really am getting older. It's not just a figment of my imagination. It's not just the media blathering on and on about the graying of the boomers. It really is happening ... and it's really happening to ME!

And ... I do feel older. I feel a little worn down. I don't feel the enthusiasm that I use to feel. I have to work at it a little more. I feel despair more easily. Yeah, sad to say, I do feel some measure of despair at the misguided focus of our world, of our country's leaders, of our culture's emphasis on material things while discounting spiritual and ethical values. Can't people see how superficial, how fleeting, how vain all that is? My life, your life is like a blink, a snap of the fingers, a moment, now here ... and now gone. How important can money and power and the right bunch of clothes be when measured in those nanoseconds of our brief existence here on this earth?

The only thing ... and I mean the only thing that I have found in my fifty-some years of life so far that's worth caring one good goddamn about is people and our connections with them. I really do believe Deepak Chopra (although I don't believe that this was original to him) that our separateness and individuality as people is an illusion. We are truly all connected and one, separated only by the differences of smaller versus bigger distances between atoms and molecules and space. Where I stop and you start is only an illusion with which we indulge ourselves. Really, truly, you and I are connected, separated only by slightly larger spaces between the atoms. Otherwise, we are one and the same.

And, so, my dear sweet little girl, Carolina, who is little still only in my memory and my imagination, I hold you close and carry you close in my heart knowing that we will always be connected, whether it be in the intimate ways that moms and daughters are close or whether it is in that universal connectedness that quantum physics sketches only so sparingly.

Thirty years ago, right now at 10:23 p.m., we were at the hospital, your dad was a champ to have gotten us there in time and you were just about to make your grand appearance to this crazy, wonderful world.

Happy 30th Birthday, Lina!!

I love you!

Mamacita

Sunday, April 09, 2006

driving me crazy

Dragon Mood? -- yes, snorting balls of fire crazy!

Do you realize that twice in the past four days I have thought to myself, "I really need to write about this in my blog?" And then I wondered if I would remember and I reassured myself, "Oh yes, you'll be able to remember that!"

Damn, if I can remember what I wanted to remember to write about here!

late Sunday night

Dragon Mood? -- tired, but good tired

S and I worked very hard today; her on the yard, me on the inside of the house.

She cut back a lot of the dead stuff from winter; mums, hydrangeas, sedum, grasses. She also trimmed a mountain of ivy off of the little parking pad and cleaned it in preparation for moving the camper back on the pad. We even talked about maybe going camping this summer.

She also blew all the pine needles, cones, dirt and detritus off the front driveway. Then she did the same thing on the decks in the back. I swear there must have been twenty pounds of pine needles! She brought all our favorite green plastic Adirondack chairs out of their winter hibernation and placed them around the decks. We also talked about her building us a big, heavy wooden picnic table for permanent placement on the smaller, lower deck. Wouldn't that be a great place to gather, drink and play euchre in the summertime?

I moved furniture around in our 'fireplace' room primarily to move the cabinet where the computer, this computer, resides. It is now sitting adjacent to the double patio doors that lead out to the screened-in porch. I'm within reach of the hanging wine bottles, if that tells you anything!

The still-slightly-new china cabinet is now where the Heads Smashed-In Buffalo Jump poster used to be, and Heads Smashed-In is now where the china cabinet was previously. The green wicker armchairs flank the china cabinet. The sofa table is back where it used to be, posing as a foyer table.

Overall, I'm pleased with the furniture arrangement; it feels more functional. More importantly, Madame S is pleased. She likes the arrangement, the 'feel' of it and the lack of claustrophobic-ness.

I gathered old magazines, a whole grocery bag of them, which I will transport to the pied-a-terre, and then to the recycling bin. I found an unused can light used for highlighting plants and artwork, that sort of thing; I'm taking that also to the pied-a-terre to spotlight our new nuclear coral foyer; it thrums with energy! It really is that intense!

I washed rag rugs, four of them, shuffled and re-arranged dried and silk plant arrangements, cleaned out bags and baskets and folders and pots and all other manner of stuff-holding receptacles. I vacuumed the floors, the carpets, mopped the bathroom floor, scrubbed a variety of marks off the walls, hung a few pieces of art and .... I'm still not done. It will have to wait until next weekend! Whew!

But the house feels clean, wonderfully clean and revitalized. It's like everything is sitting up, looking around at its new location and spiffed-up status and saying, "Yeah, this feels good!"

Saturday, April 08, 2006

And then thinking about kerfuffle ...

Dragon Mood? -- hummph!

... led me to think about Mr. Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street. I haven't thought about him in years. I wonder how he's doing?

How DID we function before the web and Google? Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Mr. Snuffleupagus: [...and who knew Mr. Snuffleupagus had a first name and it is Aloysius????]
Aloysius Snuffleupagus is one of the Muppet characters on the long-running educational television program for young children, Sesame Street. He resembles a wooly mammoth, without tusks or (visible) ears, and he is a friend of Big Bird. He attends Snufflegarten and has a baby sister named Alice.

For many years, Big Bird was the only character on the show who saw him (he only came along when Big Bird was alone). The other characters teased Big Bird when he said he had seen the Snuffleupagus, because they didn't believe there was such an animal, often despite evidence to the contrary (such as an oversized teddy bear that Snuffy had left behind). This was modeled in part on the imaginary friends some young children have.
Then read about the "Goodbye" episode from 1985.

I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one who thinks about Mr. Snuffleupagus!

kerfuffle

Dragon Mood? -- too early; sleepy

What, if anything, does it mean when you wake up before 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning, with the word, "kerfuffle" in your mind, wondering if it's real or something you made up?

Turns out it's real. Hear's the definition from Merriam-Webster:
Pronunciation: k&r-'f&-f&l
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of carfuffle, from Scots car- (probably from Scottish Gaelic cearr wrong, awkward) + fuffle to become disheveled
chiefly British : DISTURBANCE, FUSS
Why are things feeling more and more Seussian in my life? Curious? Odd?

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

The news, good, bad and downright Seussian

Dragon Mood? -- surprisingly at peace

So.

Today there was good news and bad news.

The bad news first. My temporary assignment ended last week. The "boss" in Denver called me and left me a message, saying 'they' were looking at another possible assignment for me, give 'em a few days, hold onto the laptop. Stop. Today I get an email from Bonnie (here in Motown): let's get together next week, meet for drinks, a decision's been made, bring your laptop, she gets the 'joy, joy' of shipping the laptops back. (big sigh)

Bummer! I guess that means no more temporary assignments.

And the good news?

Well, the good news is that I finally got off my duff this morning, applied for one job, two jobs, three jobs and before I knew it, it was afternoon, and I applied for a fourth job. Sheesh! How time flies when you're applying for jobs!

You wanna know the titles of these jobs? Here they are: CAD designer, CAE Specialist, UG Design Engineer and Architect I. How 'bout that?? I feel like some morphing character out of a Dr. Seuss book. How many hats CAN I wear?

Finally -- some encouraging news!

Dragon Mood? -- relieved to read something encouraging!

I saw this in Google's News:
A bill that would require nearly all Massachusetts residents to have health insurance was overwhelmingly approved by lawmakers in a 155-2 vote. This is despite the fact that employer-based insurance cover in the USA is falling.

Half-a-million Massachusetts residents currently have no health insurance cover at all. This new policy will provide cover for approximately 95% of them.

A business that employs more than ten people will have to pay $295 for every uninsured employee.

Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts, has indicated he will sign the bill. Romney is tipped to stand for President of the USA in 2008.

Low cost, state-subsidized insurance policies (with scaled back benefits) will be offered by insurance companies.

It is estimated that nearly 50 million people in the USA have no health insurance cover at all. As insurance premiums become more expensive, rising in price way over the national inflation rate, the number of uninsured people in the USA is expected to continue to grow.

In Massachusetts, even people at the bottom end of the earnings scale may have no-cost plans. Their premiums would be taken care of by the state. Those who can afford health insurance, but do not have one, will face penalties after July 2007.

http://www.mass.gov

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today