Noodles

Very difficult to eat with a spoon...

So Sad...

In honour of all the snow we've been getting lately I was going to post some lovely snowy pictures. However, I can't get Hello to work to post my pictures. So much for that plan :( Ah, well, maybe later.

Beautiful Snow, a poem by J. W. Watson

Oh! The snow, the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and the earth below,
Over the housetops, over the street,
Over the heads of people you meet.
Dancing,
        Flirting,
              Skimming along,

Beautiful snow! It can do no wrong;
Flying to kiss a fair lady's cheek,
Clinging to lips in frolicksome freak;
Beautiful snow from heaven above,
Pure as an angel, gentle as love!

Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow,
How the flakes gather and laugh as they go
Whirling about in maddening fun:
Chasing,
        Laughing,
              Hurrying by.

It lights on the face and it sparkles the eye;
And the dogs with a bark and a bound
Snap at the crystals as they eddy around;
The town is alive, and its heart is aglow,
To welcome the coming of beautiful snow.

How wild the crowd goes swaying along,
Hailing each other with humor and song;
How the gay sleighs like meteors flash by,
Bright for a moment, then lost to the eye:
Ringing,
        Swinging,
              Dashing they go,

Over the crest of the beautiful snow;
Snow so pure as it falls from the sky,
To be trampled in time by the crowd rushing by -
To be trampled and tracked by thousands of feet
Till it blends with the filth in the horrible street.

Once I was pure as the snow, but I fell,
Fell like the snow flakes from heaven to hell;
Fell to be trampled as filth in the street,
Fell to be scoffed, to be spit on and beat;
Pleading,
        Cursing,
              Dreading to die,

Selling my soul to whoever would buy;
Dealing in shame for a morsel of bread,
Hating the living and fearing the dead.
Merciful God! I have fallen so low!
And yet I was once like the beautiful snow..

Once I was fair as the beautiful snow,
With an eye like a crystal, a heart like its glow;
Once I was loved for my innocent grace--
Flattered and sought for the charms of my face!
Father,
        Mother,
              Sisters--all,

God and myself I have lost by my fall:
The veriest wretch that goes shivering by,
Will make a wide sweep lest I wander too night,
For all that is on or above me I know,
There is nothing so pure as the beautiful snow.

How strange it should be that this beautiful snow
Should fall on a sinner with nowhere to go!
How strange it should be when the night comes again
If the snow and the ice struck my desperate brain!
Fainting,
        Freezing,
              Dying alone,

Too wicked for prayer, too weak for a moan
To be heard in the streets of the crazy town,
Gone mad in the joy of snow coming down:
To be and to die in my terrible woe,
With a bed and a shroud of the beautiful snow.

~ by J. W. Watson. (1870)

Airplane Problems and Solutions

Found these in my surfing...rather long, but I thought they were pretty good :)

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet", which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor.

Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except Auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last.................

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Rangeela

I can't wait for Saturday...it's Rangeela time at Calvin again. We've got a whole group of people together this year to go. Should be lots of fun. And my cousin will be in town too, hooray!

Spring?

I think marketing people have something against us. I was walking around the mall last night, and most stores have their spring lines out. And most have sales going on as well. So us, the happy consumer goes in and buys lots of fun spring clothes, only to walk back to our cars in the snow and cold. Then we have two options, either wait and wait and wait for warmer weather to sport our new clothes, or freeze our butts off because we can't wait. I usually fall into the latter category, wearing my new clothes, and freezing. Why must they do this to us??

Curiosity Killed the Cat

The other day I used my last kleenex so I tossed the box to Nutmeg, my cat. A little while later I hear this banging around so I look to see what's going on. The silly cat had gotten her head stuck in the box and was running around trying to get unstuck. LOL. Of course I had to run for my camera, this was just too good pass up. Once I snapped a couple of pictures, I helped Nutmeg get out of the Kleenex box.

Phantom of the Opera

Went to see the Phantom of the Opera last night. Excellent movie/musical. Parts of it were rather cheesy, but as a whole it was great. Good story, great music, very handsome phantom :) I loved his eyes, a world of sadness in those eyes. Definately worth going to the theatre to see it. Now I should go and get the music for it, I love those songs. Just wish I had gone to see it when it was playing in Toronto.

Strange Dreams

I had a really strange dream last night. I was wondering around a department store. My teeth were feeling a little odd so I looked in the mirror and saw that two were loose. So I made a mental note to be careful and continued wandering about the store. A little while later my mouth started filling up with blood. I ran into the bathroom and spit the blood into the sink. Along with the blood came two of my teeth. Two from right up front too. I remember smiling into the mirror, and thinking, oh this is not good, looking at the two gaping holes in my mouth. I picked out my teeth with the intention of going to a dentist asap. Then I woke up, with all my teeth intact.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Yesterday afternoon, after a trip to the mall, I decided to deck the halls, so to speak. I put together a wreath for our door, and strung Christmas lights on the porch. But I still felt that something was lacking. So after a trip to Meijer, and much hemming and hawing, I picked out a Christmas tree (the kind that comes in a box :). Hauled it home with some other odds and ends through the quite icy streets. After some wrestling, I got the tree up, and decorated it with the meager collection of ornaments I have. Strung up some garlands, rarranged my little glowing village, and hung a couple of stockings by the "chimney" with care. Now the place looks much more Christmasy, just how I like it :)

Computer Virus

An email forward from one of my aunts:

I am sending this to everyone who sends me e-mail.

One of you sent a virus.

It is a very severe virus.

Look what it did to my mouse!

SinterKlaas

This past weekend, my roomie and I made a quick trip to my parent's house to celebrate SinterKlaas. The drive was pleasantly uneventful, no snow to contend with, just clear, dry roads. Saturday morning I woke up early, for some reason I can never sleep in when I'm at my parent's house. So I took advantage of the fact and wrapped my presents (you can't take wrapped gifts across the border).

By mid-morning we were up and out, visiting a couple of bookstores. Hit the mall briefly, but didn't stay long, way too busy with all the holiday shoppers. But we did make a stop at the pet store, and I found a nice marshmellow coat at Rikki's.

When we got back home, the house smelled great. My grandparents were there, and mom was busy cooking dinner. When my aunt and uncle, and a great aunt arrived, we all had a nice dinner. After dinner, we had lots and lots of great junk food. Mom had been to the Dutch store in town and bought all kinds of yummy goodies. Ate way too much :) The rest of the evening we unwrapped presents, visited, and ate some more. Ryan and I played two games of pool, and I got whooped both times. I blame it on the table, or maybe the rumbonen ;)

Sunday morning we went to church, visited with some people there, drank coffee. After church we went to my aunt and uncle's house for more coffee, and more goodies. Returned to my parent's house after a bit, where we packed up my car with all of our loot, including more junk food of course. Arrived back in GR before midnight, to our lonely little kitty.

Good ol' Bridget

Watched the sequel to Bridget Jones Diary last night. Bridget was up to her usual antics. Not quite as good as the first one, but still enjoyable to watch. I think that in this case, the book is better than the movie. I should read the first book, see how that one compares to the first movie. In Edge of Reason, Cleaver stoops lower and lower, driving home just how big of a jerk he is, and Darcy just seems to get cuter and cuter - and he looks great in a suit :) And if there's hope for Bridget, who is continually (almost painfully) awkward, there's hope for all of us, right?

Thanksgiving

We had our thanksgiving feast on Thursday with a small group of friends. It was nice, just four of us. My roomie and I cooked the whole shebang, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, pies, and so on. After dinner we watched the Fellowship of the Ring, which seems to be becoming a thanksgiving tradition at our place. We even gave Nutmeg the cat her own thanksgiving feast. I gave her part of the turkey carcus to gnaw on. She really loved that. The only problem with thanksgiving is, now we have to deal with all the leftovers that are still residing in our fridge.

Home Again

I'm back safe and sound in GR once again. I feel as though I've been gone for a month, but it's really only been five days. I certainly feel like I could sleep for about a week. I was so totally and completely exhausted when I rolled in last night around 11:30. Unpacked a few things (had to find my toothbrush and pjs), then went to bed.

It was an emotional week, a time of laughter through tears, remembering, reminiscing, and telling stories. Had a chance to catch up with aunts, uncles, and cousins that I haven't seen in quite some time. But of course it's a bittersweet reunion. It's good to be back though, back to a regular schedule, and my own space.

Networking

This is great, the Comcast guy just came with our broadband cable box thingy. I installed, signed up, etc, and I hooked up the wireless router. Now I'm parked with my laptop on the couch, and I'm online. I love this. I don't have to go out to check my email, or get online. I'm very much liking this :)

Earphones

Yesterday afternoon I broke down and bought myself some new earphones. Not only do they look cool, but they have great sound quality and no leakage. They were definately worth the $39.99, though that's more than I would ever have imagined spending on a pair of earphones. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a great pair of earphones.


My new earphones.

Bumper Sticker: If this car is too dirty then you wash it.

Achooo!

Bleh. I hate being sick. Nothing major, just a stuffed up head, sore throat, the sniffles, and feeling extremely tired. But it makes the days even longer and the nights shorter. No matter how early I go to bed, its never enough sleep.

Took Nyquil before going to bed last night. That stuff is great. I could breathe, and I was out cold the entire night. I bet I wouldn't have woken up if a train went through my room. It was hard enough getting up to my alarm clock this morning. Here's hoping this cold will soon have run its course.

New Work Life

It's been a long time since I've been blogging. Work has been quite busy lately. Last Wednesday we packed up and moved the office to north Monroe. We had a couple of guys come with a uHaul, and we loaded up and drove across town to the new building. I got to ride in a freight elevator...that was kinda cool. For the first couple of days we worked on folding tables setup about the office. No walls or anything, just a big open space. That was rather loud, you could hear everything.

On Tuesday some guys came to setup our cubes. Bang, bang, bang all day. That was loud and very hard to concentrate. But now I have a cube, and even a window! I really like our new office. It's great in the morning when the sun is shining in. We have six large windows. Much better than the basement. We still don't have our phones set up quite right, and our networking is not quite done yet, but all in all, its a great improvement from our somewhat damp basement office.