surreal scene of the day

I was walking down the street and I saw this guy. He had spiky blond hair, in a sort of multi-mohawk style. Very punk. A black t-shirt, faded jeans. I figured there was a concert or something at the Pepsi tonight -- he looked about right for that.

Then he asked directions to Jack's.

For those who don't know, Jack's is one of the MOST posh restaurants in Albany. If not THE most. Everyone who is anyone eats there. It has been instrumental in politics throughout the years.

It isn't really the spiked hair black t-shirt and faded jeans sort of place. I mean, the waiters at Jack's are career guys who are the best in the business.

Gods, I so wanted to follow him just so I could see the image of him superimposed against Jack's. It would've been a great image to keep in the memory banks.

Thoughts for the day -- this afternoon...

I probably shouldn't be allowed near convenience stores when I'm in a pissy mood. Not that I'm dangerous or anything, except to my budget.

I went on a quest for low points chocolate (failed, so I opted for high points but healthy instead). Ended up buying a Win For Life ticket ($2 to try to win $1000 a week for life, for those who don't know the NYS lottery games *smiles*). A dollar and a dream, right? Or in this case, two dollars and a fantasy of being a full time writer. *dreamy sighs*

I ended up winning $5, so I turned that back into two more tickets (more scratching insta-amusement) and $1 (less guilt!). No more wins but at least I had my 20 seconds of daydreams.

Thoughts from today -- this morning...

Walking back into work and immediately into the same problems as yesterday does NOT make a good start to the day. I stare at the computer seeking the depths of my source of political correctness in order to respond to a problem that was created by a group outside of my control. So not only am I dealing with problems, I am cleaning up after someone else's problems. And I have no data. Argh!

On the other hand, when it was done... the message came out sounding decent and no one yelled again. I hope.

Okay, that was fun. *grins* For a geeky definition of fun, of course!

I've added comments, using enetations hosting. Yeah, I could've grabbed a script and done it, I'm certain, but well, I'm being lazy. And this way, I don't have to work so hard on it and whee, I've got comments possible!! I'm not expecting to see them used much, but well, I wanted them there. *stubborn look* *silly grins*

I've only added them to my home page so far, but am also going to add them to the various other blogs (diet, The Voices). A Twisted Weave doesn't need comments -- it has the message board. Which is, of course, kinda empty. I think I still need to do some more programming on that, too. But first, I need to redesign the template there. I'm not pleased with the one I've got. But after how nice Kale's page turned out, I'm feeling better about my html skills again. So I'll take care of that relatively soon.

Today was a day of too many fights. I fought with my laptop, which is now off to go to the shop to get FIXED. Fought with someone who refused to listen to the logic of "if the opsys breaks the functionality of the machine, then STOP USING a beta opsys that the software doesn't work with!" *rolls eyes* *sighs* Fought with end users who were taking me apart for something I had little control over... although hopefully I can help with a monitoring solution so problems don't happen again. It was a long and frustrating day. Just one thing after another.

But on the good side, Dani and I went over to visit Audrey and saw little Catherine. She is so tiny and adorable! Dani got some playtime in with Rachel and both were good, although Dani threw a tantrum when it was time to go home. And now, hopefully some relaxing time for me. I read some of Harry Potter to Dani (we've just finished the second chapter) and tucked Ryan in to bed too. Quiet time...

ARGH!!! I just spent several minutes ranting, and by the time I was done ranting, my login time had expired so when I hit post I lost the whole damned thing!

So of course, now I'm running about as hot as my laptop. *grumble* *grump*

Yes, the laptop is running hot. REALLY hot. Like fried and dead hot. *sighs*

The first sign anything was wrong came when a dialog box displayed in "deLiriuM sPeAk" and then the whole thing locked up soon as I got logged in. So I shut down and rebooted it. And the same thing happened again as Notes was starting (yes, including the Delirium stuff -- its like the laptop was on drugs!).

I shut it down and left it for an hour to cool down. My fan's been going a little weird lately, so I figured that was it. And after the meeting I started it up and down it went. BUT I figured out that even though the machine was frozen, I could still get at it from my desktop. So I started desperately burning a CD. Got through one CD and then it was time to leave to pick up the little ones from their respective daycares.

So I figured I'd keep burning at home, but its running so hot now that I can't keep it up at all. I've got to try again tomorrow when its cold and fresh in the morning. Some important stuff, like Quicken, is still on there!

Either way, the hard drive is NOT going to Toshiba for repair. I know that's not the root of the problem, so it isn't leaving my hands. There is far too much very precious data on that drive. And unfortunately, since there is only one other Toshiba in the company, and that's Charlies, its not like I can just pop the HD into another laptop and get the data burned off of it. *sighs* I'm just going to have to be patient and wait to get my laptop back. With a new fan and motherboard, likely.

I just hope it doesn't take too long! Yes, I'm going through withdrawal... go ahead, laugh! I am. *chuckles* I have to, or I'll cry. *wry smiles*

The Voices section has been updated with the addition of Kale's page. I'm actually very excited about this one, from a design perspective. Its the first one I've done all by myself in a really long time, and I'm proud of it. I like the way it came out, especially the purple tie-dye look and feel. *grins*

Although I did just discover that I apparently uploaded it to my root directory in my needing sleep fog last night and it replaced my homepage. WHOOPS!! Publishing this at least should put *that* back to normal!

It has been an amazingly busy weekend.

Saturday morning we did a lot of running around, getting ready for the weekend. Got the tires rotated and oil changed on the subaru, which took an annoying long time (during which we were trying to entertain both kids -- eek!). Did some shopping. And Kevin treated the family to breakfast (Denny's, and that was an awfully nice break and start to the day!).

We then got home and got everything packed to go to Mike & Al's party. I was in the middle of wrapping the ice cream cake (more on that later) when I realized we had a phone message. So I listened to it, and it was Janice and Rachel calling to tell us that Rachel's little sister, Catherine Grace, had been born. So exciting! So I called Janice back on her cell phone, and talked to her for a little while. I still haven't gotten to talk to Audrey yet because we *did* go out of town after that, but I have tried to call her this afternoon. Dani and I picked out two outfits for the baby and can't wait to go visit and bring the gift.

So then we hit the road for the party. With me praying the whole way that the ice cream cake wouldn't melt before we got there! *laughs* And the kids finally managed to get some sleep in the back of the car. Which was a GOOD thing!!

We got there 45 minutes after the start of the party, but we weren't by any means running very late it turned out. I shoved the ice cream right into the freezer, the chocolate ganache which still needed to go on top went into the fridge to continue thickening, and the homemade salsa got put right out with chips. And we settled in to enjoy the evening.

Which we did! We met lots of new people, some we had never heard of and some I've heard about but never met. And we saw lots of old friends, like Jenn & Dave (Dani was SO thrilled) and jenn & Dustin. We go to do some catching up, and Jenn and I got to talk gaming a little bit.

Serving the ice cream cake was an adventure. I ended up blushing. Amy had seen the ice cream cake when I came in, and she hoped to have some before she left. So when she was about needing to leave I pulled the cake out and got out the ganache. I immediately garnered an audience ("She keeps saying ganache!") as they watched me. The ganache wasn't as thick as I'd like. So we got the ice cream cake successfully out of the springform pan and started to frost it. The ganache was still pretty soft, and just kinda dripped over the side, just draping the whole thing in a rain of dark chocolate. Some people snuck in and ducked their fingers into the drips (and I passed around the container from carrying it) and declared the ganache good.

Then they all got to eat the cake. The two most notable comments were the offer to take me off for a poly relationship if I would cook... and the ovation when it was all gone. Like I said, major *BLUSH*. But I was thrilled at how well received it was. I do love to cook, and I have been wanting to make the ice cream cake for ages to try it out but wanted some place to bring it to so I wouldn't eat the whole thing afterwards!

Now, the cake... Start with a nine inch springform pan. Press brownies to cover the bottom. Then I made chocolate ice cream (whisk 1/2 can non-fat sweetened condensed milk with 1/2 c powdered baking cocoa, mix in 1 pint fat free half and half, some cornstarch -- cook and whisk to thicken it somewhat) and poured that into the bottom. Let freeze overnight. Crumble up light oreo cookies and put in while making peanut butter ice cream (whisk 1/2 can fat free sweeetened condensed milk with 1/2 c peanut butter, whisk in 1 pint fat free half and half and then freeze in the ice cream maker). Put that over the cookies and let freeze overnight. Almost done! The next morning, make the chocolate ganache (use whatever recipe you want -- I did simmer 2 tbsp butter with 3/4 c heavy cream, stir in 1 tbsp sugar, then pour over 6 oz semisweet chocolate and whisk until well mixed -- it was a bit thin for my taste even after cooling so I'll probably modify it next time). Let it cool, then pour over the top and spread. Cut, serve, enjoy!!

We finally left around 9:15 pm and took the kids and us off to my parents' place to spend the night. So we got some time with my folks, which made Dani VERY happy, and we were there for Father's Day morning, which was also way cool.