Thursday, July 31, 2008

Rejected

Thanks to a tip from Jamie Smitten in comments, I was able to get a three day free trial membership at match.com and answer Eaglerider's email. As it turns out his nick was really Eagleridger, which is a semi-fancy golf club around here. Putting it all together I realized he was probably a serious golfer. We corresponded twice. I knew it wasn't going to work out.

But I sent him a photo and admitted that I hadn't played golf in years and wasn't that great a player in any event. He didn't even bother to answer me after that. Either he didn't like the way I looked or the golf thing was a deal breaker, but you would think he would have had the courtesy to write back and let me know. And to think I was feeling guilty about not being able to answer him in the first place.

It's like I said. Dating services like this are clearly not meant for unconventional women like me. I cancelled my subscription and I won't be wasting time on that sort of thing anymore. I'd have better luck striking up a friendship in the comments sections of the blogs.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Winked

I can't believe I haven't made it here all week. I really have to learn the future post thing so at least those of you who kindly check in every day get a YouTube or something. As for what has had me so occupied, that's another post that I'm finding difficult to write so let me tell you my little story about personal ads.

Don't ask me how I ended up there. I think I followed a random link from the home page, but however it happened, I found myself at Match.com. Curious, I punched in my criteria, woman looking for man between 53 and 65 and damn if there weren't several just in this little town that I live in. I signed up for the 'free' account because that's the only way you can read the profiles and it's a long and tedious process.

Questions to answer and checklists to check and little essays about why you're there. I skipped uploading the picture. In the first place I don't have a recent one and in the second, I'm so unphotogenic that the old ones I have are terrible. Even keeping my responses to a minimum, it took ten minutes but it was worth it to see how the senior citizen set pitches for a date. Hell, some of those guys looked really good. Too good for me really. I suspect I wouldn't measure up to the girl of their dreams.

I was surprised a few days later to get a 'wink.' This apparently is the initial indication of interest and Eaglerider winked me. His profile was pretty hot and I didn't want to ignore him in any event, so I winked him back. He emailed me shortly thereafter and it was then that I discovered if I wanted to read it or respond I had to join the premium account, which is pretty expensive -- about a $100 for six months and $35 for a single month.

For all I know he's a paid shill for the service. I mean who winks at a person who left the barest profile possible, without a photo? Still I feel a little guilty. If he was for real, he'll think I read his email and didn't like him and am so rude as to simply ignore it. But there's no way I'm going to spend that much to send an email to a guy who probably wouldn't want to date me anyway. Guess from now on, I'll just stick to reading Craig's List for my amusement.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Obscure cartoons

I had a conversation today about old cartoons. Then I stumbled across this YouTube of a cartoon I vaguely remembered. I don't think I watched it much because I can't remember any of the other characters in the show but I liked this little trailer.



Secret Squirrel. He's no Underdog, that's for sure. Underdog was a real hero.




One of my all time favorite toons. I'm thrilled to discover, you can watch whole episodes here.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Amazing grace


I wish I there was some way to have captured this better. We had a full arc rainbow right over the McCompound tonight. I could see both ends. I haven't seen one of those in years. And it lasted for at least twenty minutes.

Magical.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Stinkweed

Smith College has a live webcam of their corpse flower blooming. I didn't think it bloomed so often, but the newspaper claims it blooms every couple of years. I thought it was more like ten.

Whatever, you can enjoy the view of what the paper describes as "a giant, meat-colored funnel that smells like a decomposing deer" without the stink at the link above. It is an impressive flower.

New internet worm

Maybe this is old news, but in case you haven't seen it, there's a new worm. Actually it's an old worm but they're upgrading it according to this story. The spammers send "news alerts" with fantastic headlines to your email account. If you click the link to read the story, it installs software that allows them to hijack your computer and use it to send more spam.

Here's a sampling of subject lines:
"Bill Clinton in today's Times - thank god Hilary didn't beat Obama."
“Beijing Olympics canceled upon the death of China's president."
"Obama bows out of presidential race."
"Scandal rocks Obama as lurid sex video leaked?"
"Dog digs grave for owner."
And perhaps the most fantastic of all:
"Oil falls below $100 a barrel."
"Oprah Winfrey survives horror highway crash."
"Michael Jordan confesses to relationship with Madonna a decade ago."
"Martha Stewart found unconscious in home."
"Obama challenges McCain to a marathon race to see who is fit as the commander-in-chief for USA."
"Scientists estimate oil to run out earlier than expected in 2012."
"Lindsay Lohan crashes brand new Lamborghini."

As always, don't click anything in your email that you didn't ask for, or weren't expecting, even if it's coming from an address you recognize. They could have been taken over by the worm.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Ick, a tick

Maybe I'm the last one on earth to know about this, but I could have used this advice when I had a tick on my leg a couple of months ago. I yanked it off and spent a couple of weeks freaking out that I didn't get it all out, so I'm passing this on with thanks to Catfish for sending it to me.

How to safely remove a tick

Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20), the tick will come out on its own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me.

Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say, 'It worked!'
This was written by a nurse, by the way, whom I've found often give better advice than your doctor.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

New neighbors

Never noticed the old people move out but a new couple moved in. Hard to tell if they're an actual couple or house mates. They make an unlikely pair.

They look to be in their early 30s. She's athletic looking and kind of outgoing, take charge person. She drove the UHAUL. He's pale and looks oddly unfit, like the movie version of a computer geek. Turns out he's a musician though. I happened to catch a glimpse of when they emptied his car and they carried in at least four guitars, a violin and a electronic drumset.

I'm curious to find out their story but I suppose I never will. I think they must have moved to the far end of the first floor since I didn't hear any thumping of furniture on the stairs. I'll probably never see them except when they're driving out.

I went to the pool for the third day in a row and pushed it a little on the exercise regime so I'm whipped. I'm going to turn on some dumb teevee and fall asleep.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

A Bird in the Hand



I didn't get any hummingbirds this year. I saw one twice early on but he didn't come back. Maybe because there are so many feeders around the McCompound but I haven't seen any flying around either. Maybe they didn't come here this year. Too bad. I miss them but thanks to Maeve for sending me this photo. Hope that happens to me someday before I die.

Meanwhile, I've discovered that the little laundry here is not as bad as I thought. I looked in the window once and the machines looked small but they're really regular size and they're cheap. Even better, it's right next to the pool so I can go swimming while I do my laundry.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Arggghhh!!!

I have a lot to say but I'm in a weird place this week. I'm going to try to do a post about it soon but in the meantime, I'm trying to get my paperwork organized and I can't find my bleeping stapler.

I suppose I could go the dollar store and get another one but you know as soon as I do, I'll find the one that's here. Oh well, I guess it doesn't hurt to own two.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Oh my head

I had big plans for today but I was struck suddenly with a migraine last night that was even worse when I woke up. I thought I was going to vomit from the pain this morning and being the good hypochrondiac that I am, I considered the possibility I was about to have a massive aneurism. Of course, I didn't and it finally seems to be pretty much subsiding but I still can't bend over or anything.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to figure out what this insect was that I saw yesterday afternoon. I was doing laundry at the local laundramat and decided to walk over to the convenience store rather than drive. It's a busy road but a short walk so I stayed in the grass at the side of the road in spite my fear of ticks. It was all pretty well mowed.

Anyway, I saw this white and black bug. I thought at first it was a caterpillar but the markings were so striking I made a close inspection. It was at least an inch long and hanging onto a blade of grass with a lot of little black legs like a caterpillar. It was white with black spots and had the weirdest eyes. They weren't compound that I could tell but they were like big flat saucers on either side of the head. I don't recall any antlers. But the weird thing is it had wings. They were flat and really straight. It didn't move even when I picked up the blade of grass with my keys to get a better look. I've never seen anything like it and I was bummed I didn't have my camera.

I've been searching the internets since to try to identify it but I haven't even come close. I can't even figure out what kind of insect it is. It's driving me crazy.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Know which way the wind blows...

Another rainy night in the McCompound so still no kids with firecrackers in the parking lot. There were one short round of crackles in the break between the storms but not the ruckus I was expecting. They're big on firecrackers down here. They're legal you know.

Speaking of the rain, I was freaking out a couple of days ago. Electric windows are a great thing in a car, until they stop working. I almost never use my driver's side window because the motor is making a funny noise and the mechanic says it's about to die. And the AC doesn't work anymore because it needs freeon. So I've been making do by opening the other three windows.

Well when I got home the other night, the back driver's side wouldn't go all the way up. It wasn't making a funny noise. It just didn't go anywhere. Now I'm thinking it's an electrical problem on the whole side of the car. I fooled around with it and got it up to within about an inch of the top but couldn't close it. Fortunately the first rainstorm blew in from the other direction, so it didn't flood and I went out the next day to figure out what to do.

Of course with my usual mechanical aptitude, I forgot that I needed the turn the car on first and I'm pushing the button and pounding on the glass and getting nothing. So I'm cursing the car out when it dawns on me, and I start her up. It goes up without problem. Like magic. But now I'm afraid to open it again, in case it's really broken.

So here I am thinking I'm going to fry in that car now only being able to open one set of windows but it turns out that the air circulation is actually better that way. I'm now getting a breeze good enough to lift up the back of my hair. Funny.

And speaking of funny, there's been another successful helium balloon powered lawn chair flight. Regular readers know how much I loved the original lawn chair guy. This new guy has it down. This is his third try and he made it something like 200 miles. Sadly, there was also another failed attempt by a priest in Brazil that ended in his tragic death. Get all the details and some video at my other place.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

New friends

Well, I can hardly move this morning after unexpectedly spending an hour treading water in the pool yesterday. I went over intending to do my 20 minutes of swimming and I was just about to get out when I met a new neighbor and her family. Lil, Bill and Peg. I ended up treading water to stay warm while we chatted.

Peg is our newest resident at the McCompound. Her kids, Bill and his wife Lil are my age and damn if they didn't turn out to be, as Lil put it, true liberal Southern Democrats. We talked about doing stuff together, like the Last Friday events in town. Who knows if that will happen? You know, how it is. Often it turns out to be just idle chitchat and doesn't go anywhere but I really liked them so I hope it works out. In any event, I was encouraged enough to give Lil the URL for my blogs. I've only done that two other times in the three and half years I've lived here.

In other news, and Maeve will appreciate this, I was fortunate enough to get a free three card tarot reading from Hecate. I pulled the Ace of Wands, the Ace of Swords and the Eight of Wands. Very powerful draw. It appears it's going to be full steam ahead for the next couple of months. Hoping it will take me in a good direction.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Happy Independence Day



Have a safe and happy holiday folks. Enjoy the fireworks if you got 'em, but don't drink and drive.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Out of steam

I had a lot to say but I'm burned out. For the moment, I'm wondering why my template is so screwed up. It used to hold a lot more posts on the front page. I used to be able to fix that by republishing the whole blog, but it doesn't seem to have that function anymore.

If I had any idea what I was doing, I'd probably spruce the place up and switch it to one of the new templates but I'd be sure to screw it up and lose the whole blog. I couldn't deal with that. Next lifetime, I want to be technosmart.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Signs of the time

Signs I'm becoming southernized. It was a clear and beautiful day here. No humidity. A nice breeze. I doubt it got above the mid 80s in the sun and here inside the house it was about 75 degrees. I was freezing and had to turn off the ceiling fan. I think I'll walk instead of swimming today.

Signs that the economy is tanking. The Freecycle list has changed dramatically in the last couple of months. There aren't as many offers and half the list on any day is people asking for things under Wanted, where before there wouldn't be more than a one or two a week.

In other news, my convenience store installed some gambling machines in the back corner. It's kind of a secret I guess, because they whispered when they told me about it. My favorite clerk, I think he might be the owner, is trying to get me to play. I went and looked at them. Apparently they're some kind of computers that have several games on them. I watched one woman play the slots for a while. I don't think I want to play that one but he tells me they have KENO as well. I would have liked to just check it out to see what the other games are, but I figured why bother? Who can afford to gamble these days? Besides, I never win.